Broken Glass

This morning one of the volunteers went out to load the van in the yard, and discovered that someone had taken bricks and broken the back and side windows. Since there was nothing in the van at all, this was probably done out of spite rather than to steal. After the police were called and the insurance company informed, I was assigned to sweep up all the glass on the ground and in the vehicle. I had barely started when one of the guests called out that he wanted to help. He said he came here all the time and it made him really mad that someone had done somethng out of meanness. The guest said if we closed for a day, he wouldn't blame us. I responded that we certainly weren't going to close and we would never punish all of the people who came to eat just because of the actions of one or two individuals.
The staff could quickly make a list of likely suspects: guests we had banned for a period of time because of theft, violence or disobeying certain rules like drinking in front of the Inn. We may or may not ever know who did this act of vandalism. Apparently it has been many years since such an event has occurred. I think the long-time staffers were saddened that after so many years of giving to this community, someone would do something like this, especially as we enter the holiday season. For Mark and I, this event was a reminder that we are in the real world, not part of a movie where the bully reforms and ends up doing good at Christmas.