Hellions on the loose
Returning from a meeting at Pier 9, I stopped to watch the kids skateboarding at
Pier 7. They shot through the air, swirled around corners and crashed to the
ground with distressing regularity. But, thankfully, no lasting damage was done;
such is the resiliency of youth. It seemed to me a joyous, and altogether
fitting, use of the waterfront so I asked if I could take their picture. After a
conference they agreed, but drew the line at giving me their names.
A few days later news reports
appeared asserting a young man had been beaten to death by a vicious pack of
crazed skateboarders at this very spot. All false as it turned out: the mentally
ill victim had in fact been hit by a car some distance away and had simply
stumbled to Pier 7 before collapsing.
Many see skateboarders, for reasons I cannot
comprehend, as symbols of decaying civilization. Perhaps it’s because
skateboarders startle pedestrians, though from what I saw skateboarders take
special care to avoid doing so. Perhaps it’s because skateboarders are just as
we see them in this image: sweet, exuberant kids with their whole lives yet in
front of them. "The first sign of age", so said Mark Twain, "is
judging the young".
