Athens Unoccupied

When I first heard someone had vandalized the tents belonging to the , I was shocked. I was further shocked to find someone had stolen their safe earlier in the week, but I was not surprised.

 Jumping in my car, I raced toward UGA, sirens wailing. Okay, my car does not race, it putters, and the only thing wailing was Pink Floyd on my stereo. I was envisioning a mad slasher ripping at the tents as poor, young idealists cowered inside, fearing for their lives. When I arrived at the arches, I was a little disappointed to find it much like it was before the October occupation began. The only evidence of the occupation was a dog-eared book abandoned in a fence and a few scraps of paper.

I spoke to the UGA police department; they had no clue anything had happened. I was informed that the tents were actually empty much of the time. Vandals vandalized unoccupied Occupy Athens tents. The story kind of falls flat here, doesn’t it? I called the and got no statement from the officer I talked to and no return call from the one I was referred to.

 I was prepared to write a scathing story about Occupy Athens' lack of commitment or our government’s inadequacies. In my day, when people believed, they believed enough to freeze, get heat exhaustion or spill a little blood. Today, the only thing close to blood was a splotch of purple paint on the sidewalk near the arches.

 I then got a call from Ethan Epps, a member of Occupy Athens and a graduate student at UGA. He said:

 “The tents were slashed during the daytime on December 7, and the decision had already been made to move inside an office space due to inclement weather. The destruction of the tents only moved the day forward a week or so. We stayed as long as we did because we had adopted two homeless men, who needed our help and who we really didn’t want to abandon. They had solved their situations earlier in the week so making the decision to fold up camp wasn’t a hard one.”

 “The occupation was just the tip of the ice berge of what we’re doing and designed to gather support and attention. In no way does this diminish our movement, in fact we have a Christmas dinner planned for December 18th between 5 and 8 PM, near the arches, and everyone is invited. We also have a benefit concert planned for January, but the date is not set yet. We still meet at the arches on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 8PM, please join us.” 

I guess what this story really reflects is the ability of so many of us to be mean, even as Christmas approaches. If you’re mad, fed up, disgusted or just plain stupid, by all means be the best at whichever fits. I’ll never understand random acts of meanness. Random acts of kindness are much more fun. Merry Christmas, y'all.