Understandably the almost universal response to the vandalism that has damaged a significant part of the much-love playground complex is a combination of outrage and disgust.  The reaction was rapid and uniformly impassioned and appears to have struck a grim chord in the public consciousness.

Not only is the wooden complex the source of almost endless delight to countless children, both local and visiting, but it was built with the generosity and hard work of many big-hearted community-minded people.This playground belonged to the children of ballarat, all children without distinction or cost. Whoever has wrought this damage, (and on wet night it hardly seems like some accident of a discarded cigarette butt) has certainly cut that community feeling to the core.

This kind of indifferent destruction is a slap in the face of the spirit that built it. A slap that many more people take as an affront, an insult barely appeased by revenge.

While the calls for punitive justice for the perpetrators are one thing perhaps even sadder is the thought that future prevention of this kind of act will demand higher security or even locking things up.  A city that has to implement CCTV, locks or curfews on its play equipment is a city that has lost much faith in itself.

If the term senseless vandalism is a tautology it certainly would seem to apply here, as this act appears so beyond the comprehension of sense. Many people would spend more than a moment of their Sunday asking that simple question; why would you do this?  The more obvious answers such as bored kids and school holidays, however do not investigate just what kind of motivation could deliberately set about destroying a playground.

The problem is the more these reasons are investigated the grimmer the revelation and they are often not simple causes that the threat of punishment will deter. Deliberate arson can come from a much darker place than simple spiteful indifference. It could well be the precursor of adult psychopathy, which with a host of complex life contributors indicate this is the start of the dysfunction, not its culminating act.

For now, it is time to rebuild for the sake of current and future children lest a bigger shadow fall from this waste.