Dear, oh dear

On Monday, Staff and pupils arrived at Ysgol Maesincla in Caernarfon to find the playground outside the school’s nursery wing smashed to bits. It is believed that the culprits jumped over the four foot high metal fence, which seals off the school, to gain access to the grounds at some point during the weekend.

The vandals then proceeded to destroy the yard, kicking wooden picnic benches with such force that they smashed into small pieces. The yobs also broke the window boxes at the children’s playhouse and ripped felt off its roof, leaving a gaping hole.

Sad as this incident was, examining the reactions of those immediately affected is revealing. Headteacher Mrs Elisabeth Roberts said: “This attack was totally uncalled for and was of no benefit to the perpetrators." while Caernarfon councillor and member of the Maesincla board of governors Huw Edwards blasted the yobs for their shameful attack and said “I can’t understand the mentality of these people. Those responsible should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and they should look at in the mirror and ask themselves why did they do it."

These comments, and similar ones made whenever such damage occurs, reveal a fundamental problem in perception. It's tempting to blame drink and drugs every time something like this happens, but the fact is that vandalism is not a new phenomenon. The earliest known use of the term dates from 1794 during the French Revolution, and was coined by by Henri Grégoire, constitutional bishop of Blois, in his report directed to the Republican Convention, where he used word Vandalisme to describe some aspects of the behaviour of the republican army.

The act itself, however, probably pre-dates recorded history, and was almost certainly carried out by Ug and Urk on the piles of bones outside next cave’s entrance one dark and boring night, after the mammoth bash at the neighbour’s coming of Woad party.

But the people making the comments need to realise that the destruction of created works and the imposition of chaos on order is the natural state of things; you only have to watch a dead animal’s body over a matter days to realise that. Respect for structure and order, for beauty and design is something we have to teach our young and the sad fact is that there are many young parents these days who don’t understand the concepts themselves.

The answer? We must break the cycle of ignorance breeding ignorance, but the only way to do that is by action that no current political party or representative will countenance. Until we take the action necessary to break the circle, we had better resign ourselves to things only becoming worse.