Driving down East Mountain you look over to your left and see a large steel cross sitting on the hill in Waterbury. Have you ever wondered what it was?

In the early 1950’s when the town of Waterbury built a new monument they called Holy Land.

This mini Bethlehem which sat on the mountain remained at peace for a few years until it began to get destroyed by people who vandalized it and ruined the small buildings, statues, and engraved signs. The cross is one of the only things that is still standing from the original monument, along with a few structures that are slightly still intact.

It used to be a place where local people could go and see the tribute and enjoy it. But as the years passed, and it became more and more damaged, it had to be closed down from all of the destruction.

It also has a bad reputation now, after there have been stories about bad things happening up there. Over the summer after a sixteen year old girl named Chloe Ottman was killed, some of the stories that have been told began being believed.

After reading about Chloe and a few years ago visiting the monument and seeing all of the damage that was done to it, I find it amazing how something that used to be a landmark, could become a place where horrible things happen.
It shows how people can disrespect something that could be very important to another person.

It also shows how people need to think before they act. In my opinion, they should not renew the monument.

It seems things like this are happening more and more, as kids and teenagers become more independent and feel that they do not need the guidance of their parents.

This can cause problems and lead to rebellion like what happened to Holy Land, and to Ottman. Parents may need to be stricter with their child/children when it comes to their children; it was proven that younger children and teenagers who play sports have less of a chance of getting into trouble.

But, the parents are not the only ones who should be responsible if the child gets themselves into trouble.
It is also the child who is responsible. They are able to say no to what they are being asked to do, or change their mind about what they thought they should do.

It might be hard to tell people no because they do not want to be seen as lame, but, it may be what is best for them as they get older.

Some of the culprits do not realize that it goes onto a record. This record never goes away and may be the reason someone may not get the job they want when they get older.

It should be made clearer to not only teenagers but adults too. Everyone makes a bad decision at some point in their lives. It is what makes us human. It could be little and other times it could be large, like destroying a landmark that took others so long to build and make for visitors to enjoy.

So what I’m asking is pretty simple, just try and think before doing something that could harm or affect others.

There are assemblies all the time telling the students of different schools that they need to think before they act, even though the teachers and other students know that a good majority of the kids in the room will not listen to the speech they were given.

I am not sure how it is going to get through peoples’ heads that they cannot just go and do things that can harm other people, but it may be time for another angle at the ways of trying to help get vandalism rates going back down.

Photo Credit: http://blog.kobek.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/holyland1.jpg