The NIMBY Factor

Yesterday, travelling along a road, I noticed that most of the daffodils that had been growing in a garden right next to the pavement, had been snapped off and just thrown on the ground.  I don't have any garden at the front of the house as it has all been turned into a car parking area.  Part of me was grateful that my daffodils were in the back garden and not so easily accessible. 

My daffodils are less accessible to vandals.



My sister had some solar-powered garden lights that she had placed on either side of the path down from the front gate towards the door of the house.  This morning when I went to visit her, I noticed a couple of lights were broken.  She explained that the other morning she woke and when she went into the garden she noticed that most of the lights were missing.  On looking beyond the gate and along the path and grass verge, she found them, broken and thrown away.

Similar garden lights along a similar path in a similar garden.

What is the point of such mindless vandalism?  Why do people do such things?  Do they get some sort of perverse satisfaction from breaking things that others have put there for enjoyment and pleasure.  Without seeming to be a 'grumpy old woman', I struggle to understand the mentality of such people or make lame excuses of the way they have been brought up or lack of education to explain such behaviour.

On the other hand, I couldn't help comparing attitudes towards such destructive behaviour with the fact that humanity goes on destroying the planet's resources.  These are not so easily replaced or renewed and yet our attitude seems to be more accepting of this type of destruction.



A catalogue of man's destruction of only some of the planet's resources





This doesn't even take into account the use of fossil fuels or the ravages of war.  Maybe it's because we notice what is in our immediate surroundings or what actually 'belongs' to us whereas something far away and happening to other people, can be put to the back of our minds.  If we don't actually see the problem then it's easier to forget.  It's as if it doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't affect me personally, here and now.  We don't really care as long as it's Not In My Back Yard. (NIMBY)