Innocent at first glance

     I love to take my kids to the park. They enjoy the monkey bars, the swings, the slides and interacting with other children. It's great exercise for them and a chance for me to sit and relax even if it's only for a few minutes at a time.
     Today, however, my parental bliss was damaged by some disturbing imagery. Now let's get this straight, I'm not some prude who has forgotten what it's like to be a teenager, I teach middle school so I can't forget. And I remember witnessing graffiti as a kid, for a good time call... or Carrie loves Steve, that kind of stuff, it was everywhere. I even knew some kids from the neighborhood who were busted writing curse words on the picnic tables at the park. What I am trying to say is that normal naughtiness doesn't phase me. What I saw today is burned into my brain, so I am going to pass it on to you with the hopes that I forget about it asap.
     While my lovely children were playing on the so-called innocent park equipment, I decided to look inside the tubes that connect the climbing platforms. I anticipated a few phone numbers, which I saw but was a bit unsettled by the large penis that sat above my kid's heads as they crawled through the tube. Really? An enormous penis. Why perverted teens? Why? That prompted me to do some more investigating and I was on to explore another tube. More phone numbers, some curse words and a drawing of a naked girl with her breasts hanging down, her knees spread and her vagina hanging out for all to see. What the hell? All of these innocent kids were playing under an image that, should it be found in a life drawing class, could be considered a work of art, but here at the park, it was much more pornographic. At that moment, I wished that I were armed with a black marker or some acetone.
     With some resistance, I decided to proceed to the last tube but this time I felt prepared because I was thinking like a perverted teen. But those teens got me again and I felt speechless. There on the last tube of disgust was a swastika with some verbiage related to Hitler. Who are these kids and why are they defacing property in this manner? I actually preferred the pornographic images to the Hitler references.
     When my kids and I left the park, I had it in my head to go back to the park and erase the graffiti as soon as possible. But now, as I am writing this entry, I am going to email someone in the parks and rec department. Maybe if they are aware of these markings they can assign someone to check the park tubes routinely. Erasing the stuff won't fix the problem but it will make me feel better, I'd like my kids to stay innocent for as long as possible.