Social Responsibility and Graffiti or Tagging

I think tagging is a creative art form. Yet, it has a place. I believe that adults and youth are not being socially responsible if they are "tagging". When they tag, they are defacing someone else's property. Graffiti doesn't belong on stores, bridges, trains, etc.

When I graduated from high school, we didn’t spray paint our grad year around the city. Instead, we constructed signs that promoted responsible driving and no drinking and driving. Some of the slogans included: “See Dick drink, See Dick drive, Don’t be a Dick” and “Don’t let Jack Daniels drive your car.” In my graduating year I wrote an article for the Quesnel Cariboo Observer regarding the history behind this practise. Unfortunately, as years went on, this practise of creating grad signs did end.

A few years ago I wrote a letter to the editor which encouraged graduates to revive the practise, but again, to no avail. It would be something I would like to see visible again in the Quesnel School District. It would be a small way to encourage social responsibility from those students who are graduating.

I am pleased to see that there can be a place for tagging. This summer there was a call for graffiti artists in Quesnel to help create a graffiti mural in the local skateboard park. I think that graffiti artists are creative and talented and giving them outlets like this provide them with a socially appropriate location to share their art.