MOST of us, thankfully, will never understand the mindset that would lead someone to use their car to recklessly destroy someone else’s property. Most of us will never understand what thrill could possibly come from performing doughnuts on a sporting field under the cover of darkness. And most of us will never try to convince ourselves that our desire for a few minutes of mindless thrill-seeking can justify the expense, inconvenience and distress it will inevitably cause others. Clearly, though, there are some in our community who do not think this way. The infuriating damage of the main field at the new home ground for St Patrick’s Rugby League on Hereford Street is the latest example of hoons putting their own stupid wants ahead of everyone else’s. It takes a special breed of self-importance to wreak such damage and it’s to be hope that the person – or people – responsible will be caught and made to face the consequences of their actions. In the meantime, though, the people who have already poured so much time and care into the construction of the new rugby league fields have been left to fix the mess. It’s particularly upsetting for a club that has been effectively homeless in recent years and was eagerly looking forward to the start of the 2018 season with their new ground and clubhouse. Council staff will assess the damage on Monday and begin working to repair it, and the hope is that the ground will still be ready for the start of the new season. And it will be that spirit and determination that will ultimately define this incident. As this newspaper wrote earlier this year following a devastating fire at the Bathurst Community Op Shop, the mindless work of those who seek to destroy is never the real story in these cases. Rather it is the work of those who repair the damage, who rebuild the facility and who give back to the community that is the real story of Bathurst. We live in a community where looking out for others in far more prevalent than looking out only for ourselves. We live in a community where actions like Friday night’s appal the majority and spur them to help. That’s the real spirit of the Bathurst community and it’s something to celebrate. And if it takes some mindless vandals to remind us, then we’ll take that good from the bad.
