Aug 19 2008
The Mailbox
I poured a cup of coffee, walked to the front of the house, opened the door and went out onto the front deck to sit and bask in the sunlight. It was finally a nice day. The sun was shining. There wasn’t any humidity. And after a long weekend of rain, it was nice to sit and relax with a cup of coffee on a great summer day before I headed into the office.
I sat down in my chair and took a sip of the coffee. I was looking out over the marsh across the street from my house when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed it. I immediately put my coffee cup down on the table, walked down my front steps and out to the end of my driveway and stared in disbelief at what had happened; my New York Giants mailbox was lying on the ground.
My day was ruined! I was angry; pissed off would be a better way to describe it! As I bent over to pick up the beat up mailbox, I looked around at every other house on the street and my ire at the situation grew even more. My mailbox was the only one on the entire street that had been smashed. I picked up the main part of the mailbox, brought it back into my yard and propped it up on the concrete wall next to the front steps and went back into the house.
It is no secret that I am a New York Giants fan. I have been all my life. I also realize that I live outside of Boston where the fans are extreme supporters of the local sports franchises. I understand that and if this act of vandalism had happened back in the first week of February, then I might have been a little more understanding of such a targeted attack on my personal property. It would have made sense. It would have still been wrong but it would have made sense. But there is no rational explanation for this type of vandalism to take place in August. It is six months after the Super Bowl and for my mailbox to have been damaged now defies conventional logic or explanation because the argument about it “happening in the heat of the moment” has long passed.