Portrait of a Vandal"

[Music] hey frisbees all right catch come on [Music] stereo right come on [Music] nobody ever use the canopy anymore all right so [Music] vandalism means willful or senseless destruction especially of something valuable something hard to replace how'd you get out i left about five minutes before you hey how about your skateboard there's debbie's house oh yeah debbie got stuck up came up big one to um yeah okay hey but vandals don't usually think of themselves as willful or senseless and most of the time they're not most of the time they're nice enough people who know all about right and wrong but sometimes even a nice person plays the sneak becomes a coward who's afraid to strike out at whatever is really bugging him and often there's a connection between what he does and what he does it too if a teacher makes him mad he throws a rock at the school if a girl offends him he takes it out on her bike hey you guys i don't think we ought to do this sneaky come on i don't think we ought to do this underhanded guys don't you hate debbie yeah whenever you're walking down the hall and say hi debbie she just sticks her head up in the air and ignores you she's so stuck at i wait a long time to do something to her you guys is dumb cause danny's not even gonna know we did it that's easy just finding something to write with him we'll leave him a message someone might be in there hey it's open all right a vandal is often a puppet a dummy without a mind of his own he can get himself into serious trouble because he's willing to go along a pinocchio but somebody else pulls the strings yeah this has got to be the place come on guys look you think we should be doing this oh come on shall be chicken yeah come on joe what are the books doing here oh forget about the books we gotta find something to write with them [Laughter] i am ready for space [Laughter] a vandal is out of control once he's started he can't stop it's it's as if he were out of gear on a steep hill he goes on and on [Music] [Applause] [Applause] oh is there somebody who's going to be in your home well my aunt um hasn't arrived yet perhaps she's here [Applause] now come on oh no oh and your first name man charlene and your address again here is 2204 oxford drive can you tell me about what time you arrived home sometime around 3 30. [Music] can you show me the full extent of the damage that happened here well there was all this and uh would you like to see the rest of you yes ma'am excuse me yes debbie do you know anybody who could have done this [Music] no no i don't know why why don't i have to do this a vandal gets his kicks destroying things which have meaning for other people and everything does there isn't anything that doesn't mean something to someone whether it's public property or private hey john wait up want to get a coke no not really why not i don't know what's bugging you nothing come on tell me well can you keep a secret yeah i mean a real promise yeah sure well you know what happened to brooker's house yeah i heard about that well we did it i mean see it all started as a little jerk we're gonna go vandal is a snitch snitching on himself mess things up and so we just went along with him i mean how are we supposed to know her dad either he thinks he's done something smart or he feels so guilty that he has to get it off his chest sooner or later he ends up telling everything to somebody and then the news gets around hello yes well yes officer what is it yes kurt's our son [Music] oh well i'm sure there must be some mistake are you sure well yes i i guess so what time [Music] why [Music] what was that all about well that was the police department they want us to bring kurt down there to kurt they said that you were involved in that horrible incident at the brooker house no i don't know maybe someone's trying to get me in trouble or something a vandal is maybe for a split second he is only lying to himself pretending it didn't happen but it doesn't stop there dad i swear to you he lies to his parents i don't think i could bear it if you were involved in anything like that it'll be simple enough to clear it up when we get to the police department i appreciate you bringing the boy and he lies to everyone else as long as he thinks he can bluff his way out would you mind looking at me kurt son is only one way you and your friends are going to keep your stories straight that's by telling the truth i've already talked to joe and john and their parents now i need to hear it from you everything you did that day okay i don't know what they told you but i wasn't with them that day well that's hard to believe you boys are always together you're always with them or sean no wednesday i wasn't how do you know what day it was wednesday wednesday that's the day i was baking cookies and all you boys came in together [Music] oh kurt kurt you were with them a vandal hurts people the people he cares about the most kurt you swore to me and i believed you the people who care about him i'm sorry officer wouldn't you like to get it over with kurt tell me all about it look kurt everybody makes mistakes when they do they have to face up to them set things straight okay okay but it wasn't my idea i know we let ourselves get dragged into things sometimes don't work maybe the court will take that into consideration and since this is your first offense i think you'll probably get probation but i'm afraid the court will expect you to pay your share of the damages damages yes in this state those who are responsible must pay their share of the damage they've caused [Music] but we don't have that kind of money and for nothing for nothing nice enough people who know all about right and wrong up to a point the point where fun becomes destructiveness then a sneak a liar a clod there isn't very much good you can say about a vandal [Music] there will be times when you will be in situations like the one the boys in this story were in when you will be part of a group where everybody's feeling good and has energy to burn times when temptation lies in weight the temptation to do something which will make you think less of yourself when it's all over hey look at all these rocks i got some good ideas with these come on you guys come get now is the time to figure out how you're going to handle those situations [Music] before you pick up the first stone before you get involved with something that could get out of hand now is the time to decide is this a picture of you [Music] [Music] oh