Random violence

    This morning I went to Congaree National Park to take a short stroll. I would have happily taken a longer stroll, but as I anticipated, the park was almost totally inundated. About the only place to walk was on the elevated boardwalk, though Bluff Trail and short stretches of Sims Trail were passable. Spider webs on the elevated boardwalk were so numerous as to be almost unbelievable. However, I did recall from memory the old hiking book author trick of bringing my walking stick and swinging it ahead of me to knock down webs, so I didn't catch too many of them with my face.
    Unfortunately, I had a mild unpleasantness involving another visitor, or so I have to assume. When I got back to the car, someone had bent the radio aerial almost all the way down to the trunk, half-breaking it. Since I had opened the trunk to get my hat and walking stick when I had arrived, I know for sure that it wasn't that way before. Now on the trail, I will sometimes sing along to the iPod at the top of my lungs. It's certainly possible that some unseen person had taken offense at this. When I arrived there was only one other vehicle in the lot, so the person may have concluded that the only other vehicle had to be the loud-singing person that he wanted to strike back at. But somehow I can't see it. I think it was just some asshole being an asshole just because he's an asshole.
    It didn't cause any harm to performance; the radio works as well or as poorly as before. I don't think resale value is affected noticeably. I don't feel violated or damaged particularly, but I do see how wars escalate. If I had any way of knowing for sure who did it, I would feel a strong urge to slash his tires. I most certainly wouldn't do it, but I would definitely have the urge. A more constructive urge I'm feeling is to buy the park some "Parking lot is under 24-hour video surveillance" signs. Might help.