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Dear Skaters, Please Let The Kids Enjoy The Spontaneity Of Childhood
Skating is a fast and thrilling activity, but so is the effervescence of childhood.
A few months ago, an incident of incivility and hostility marred the otherwise tranquil ambience of my local city park.
This park is the second of only two large lung spaces within the city that boasts enough open space for dozens of people to get their daily quota of fitness filled. On what would have been an otherwise casual and laid back weekend, a huge fight had broken out in one corner of the park, encroaching upon the airwaves which would have otherwise been rented by birdsong and the echoes of laughing children.
The clash was between the walkers association of the park, or rather, the security of the park who were acting on the instructions of the walkers association, and a skaters group who came to teach and practice skating there every weekend.
The walkers association alleged that the skaters were a brash and brazen bunch who skated with wild abandon inside the park without being mindful of all the people exercising inside. They skated fast and rashly, pulling risky maneuvers, taking fast turns around corners, and giving jump scares to walkers and runners as they were too fast to be noticed approaching from a distance.
