Cleaning Up the Neighborhood

One brave woman tries to erase spray paint

I was on my Sunday morning walk, noticing how more and more spray-painted “Free Palestine” had sprouted up (the neighborhood is covered in this, including one spot where “Hamas” is engraved into the sidewalk, not just spray-painted). As I began to cross a residential street, I saw a woman with a bucket of soap and water and an object that I can’t quite identify because I’m not an expert in tools but that was obviously made for scraping things crouching on the ground trying to erase something. Sure enough, she was getting rid of a brand new black spray-painted “Free Palestine.”

I stopped to chat with her and thank her for cleaning up the sidewalk. She told me that she lives in the house that it is right in front of, and that she does not want this on her property.

Defacing public buildings, smashing windows, and spray-painting streets is common in this neighborhood. It lends to an atmosphere of dysfunction, and I feel it pulling me down. Why don’t I move? As most of you know, I can’t afford to, not yet.

The nice woman erasing the spray-paint, or trying to, said that she just doesn’t want to have it in front of her house, and that even if she can’t completely erase it (it’s spray-painted dark and heavy black) at least she can show that it is not welcome. She said that she feels like by just leaving it she’s encouraging more.

I love this woman. She is actually doing something about the problem. She is not indicating assent by silence and inaction.

I think she is very brave to do so even in front of her own home. These people are violent, as they showed on July 4 when they committed acts of vandalism in Center City as well as burning an American flag. I am literally afraid for my safety. I still proudly wear my Star of David at every moment when I’m not at work. I would not wear any religious symbol to work, as I do not believe the two should mix. But I do usually wear some sort of encoded symbol as a necklace when I can’t wear my Star, like a little cat necklace a Jewish friend gave me or one of the Drogon egg necklaces my mom gave me. I often reach for my necklace as a kind of security blanket, a magickal amulet.

What do we do in these times?

I’m sure someone is going to blather on about free speech, but graffiti is not free speech. Your blog, your twitter, the sign you put in your own window, sure. Not the street we all share.

I honor this brave woman’s effort to keep our neighborhood clean. I had a very nice talk with her. I suggested that if we can’t get the spray-paint off it the sidewalk, maybe we could make a mural of flowers. Everybody loves flowers, right? But that would be graffiti, and I do not think people should be forcibly subjected to it.

Sad, tough times my friends.

Hug your children, your parents and your pets. Pray if you do. I do. Now more than in a long, long time. Take a picture of a flower. Send it to me.

Love to you all.