Vandalism of prehistoric artwork causes rare rage

When Neanderthals painted the stories of their lives on cave walls, did neighboring Neanderthal punks sneak in and paint their stories over the top of them? Were there Neanderthal taggers?

Growing up in Arizona, my parents introduced me to anthropology, though they never used that word. They introduced me to the lives and times of ancient Pueblo people who lived in what is now Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Arizona is rich in the ruins of these civilizations: Montezuma's Castle, Canyon de Chelly, Wukoki, Tuzigoot, Pueblo National Monument, and my favorite, Walnut Canyon, just east of Flagstaff, to name a few.

We walked the trails so carefully maintained by the state parks and Bureau of Land Management. I gazed curiously through museum glass at pottery and tightly woven baskets shaped and worked by busy fingers more than a thousand years ago. Maybe longer.

Something about the experience shaped in me another dimension of respect that only as an adult could I begin to put into words. But now I can, and here are the words: I am not a big deal. The existence of the Individual Steven Kalas on planet Earth is no cause for fanfare. Lots and lots and lots of folks have been here before -- living, loving, suffering, celebrating, dying -- just like me.

Don't know how they did it, but my parents are to be credited with driving home a very valuable message: Steven, it's not about you. You are a part of something so much bigger than yourself.

Do I celebrate diversity? Nope. I acknowledge it and respect it. But what human beings have in common is ever so much longer a list, and therefore deserving of an even greater respect. This is what I love about anthropology.

On Dec. 1, I opened the Las Vegas Review-Journal to find that one or more Neanderthal punks had tagged petroglyphs and pictographs in Red Rock Canyon, just west of Las Vegas. The word "anger" doesn't get it done.

I'm an even-tempered guy. Kind of a peacenik, left over from my hippie upbringing. My first instinct is to understand, to answer the question, "What's going on?" I'm saying it takes a lot to move me to outrage.

And it was physical outrage. I was trembling. Deep anger brings tears to my eyes, though I'm not crying. I made three phone calls, looking for friends and family members who would listen to me vent and wail.

I "get" thieves. You don't have something, you want something, so you steal it. Oh, sure, stealing is a moral wrong. If you do it and you get caught, you deserve to be punished. But I'm saying there is a certain logic to it. There can be, in fact, an honor amongst thieves.

Spray paint my garage door if you must, you pathetic dweeb, but to vandalize the memory of ancient civilizations? To destroy something beautiful, valuable, even sacred, just because you can? Then something is wrong with you. Something inside of you is so empty, so broken, so ugly.

I want to scream, "Have you no shame?" But I save my breath, because I already know the answer. No. You don't. You have no shame. And you're to be pitied because of that. Pitied and, if we catch you, sent to prison and pitied.

I think this kind of crime speaks to individuals suffering from an egregious sense of helplessness/powerlessness colliding with a conversely painful narcissism. There. Now that the clinical observation has been made, let me assure you that I have no idea what could move a person to an act so utterly malicious and despicable. I can explain it, but the explanation doesn't explain it.

And, while I'm at it, if you should fall in love, and find yourself walking through a grove of aspens in my home state of Arizona ... well, as you reach for your pocket knife to carve a heart and your initials into the tree so that, years later, I can come walking through and see that "B.K. loves L.W." ... ask yourself: OK, so I'm lucky enough to find the woman/man of my dreams. So, how, exactly, does defacing this tree exemplify my gratitude?

OK. Sorry. I bounce around like that when I'm angry.

There is a $2,500 reward posted for the arrest and conviction of those guilty of tagging the anthropological treasures at Red Rock Canyon. If I find out you did it, I'll refuse the reward. I would consider it my high honor to see your butt thrown in jail.

(Update: Last week, local police arrested a juvenile suspected of taking part in the vandalism of the prehistoric artwork. The investigation is continuing.)

Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of "Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing" (Stephens Press). Contact him at skalas@ reviewjournal.com.