Ok, let's talk. I want to know, am I missing something? Am I not seeing something out there that has some real value here? Tell me I'm just not seeing all of it!

No wait, tell me I JUST DON"T get it!

Hey look, I've been trying real hard to see everything positive about all of that spray painting, all those marker scribbles BUT I just seem to be missing it. Am I missing the art? No wait! I must be missing the psychological connections to all of it. Or MAYBE, I seem to be unable to make the connections to what I'm seeing and what's really going on out there!

I don't know what I'm not getting about all the recent occurrences of graffiti BUT, no matter how I look at it, it still looks to me like vandalism to me. It still looks to me like somebody out there doesn't care about our neighborhood. It still looks to me like some people just don't respect others who live and work in our neighborhood. It looks to me like somebody just doesn't think enough about ALL OF US to respect what we've been doing in this neighborhood to make it a great place to live and work.

I'm not sure what it is that makes people feel like they have to or need to mark up OUR neighborhood with their "tags" or graffiti, but I am sure that I speak for many others when I say, STOP! STOP VIOLATING US! Stop thinking that it's okay to use your spray cans or your markers to leave your mark on us!

Hey look! Just ask my friends and they'll be the first to tell you that I'm no great fan of the capitalist system. They'll tell you that I don't have any love for all of those "land kings", as I call them, who own all those large chunks of real estate out there. I admit, I have a real problem with the material wealth that some people have when others have next to nothing. BUT, I have a MUCH BIGGER problem with those people who don't have enough respect for themselves that they take things out on others, including us.

Here's a message to all of you "taggers" or "frustrated budding artists" out there: If you NEED to have some notoriety, how about taking that same chunk of creative energy and use it toward something that will benefit BOTH of us. How about using some of those artistic talents to help our neighborhood: help "spruce up" the home of one of our elderly or low income residents who are unable to but would dearly love it or maybe offer to create an attractive mural for a dreary wall of some building in our neighborhood.

Ya know, the more I think about it, the more I have to just come out and say in closing: I DARE YA! I DARE YOU to take that disrespectful behavior and make something GREAT out of it. I DON'T THINK YOU CAN DO IT! But, you know what, I'd love to have ALL of you prove me wrong!

I'm waitin'.

-David Mandehr


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