Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

I’ve always enjoyed a good, old fashioned prank.

Some might call them practical jokes.

Things like soaping a neighbor’s windows on Trick or Treat night.

How about “pumpkin-tipping?”

I had at least one bad “pumpkin-tipping” incident as a kid growing up in northern Ohio. It was the Jack-o-Lantern on the front porch of the Herbst’ house on Keller Drive.

Not sure why I picked that location but I do remember the porch was high enough that I could slither my tall/skinny self up to the edge of the porch without being seen from inside.

As I reached up to tip the gourd, the poich light came on and I took off like a galloping crane through the neighbor’s back yards.

All of a sudden, I had a searing pain across my forehead and I was flat on my back.

Seems I ran into someone’s clothes line.

I’m not sure how I explained that bright red line above my eyebrows when I got home but if it had been 5 inches lower, I might not be writing this article.

I guess you could file that under “Pranks Gone Bad”.

By definition, pranks are playful, mischievous tricks or practical jokes intended to surprise, amuse or gently embarrass someone.

The hot, red line on my forehead proved sometimes the prankster can be pranked.

But pranks are generally meant to be humorous, bewildering or light-hearted, rather than genuinely malicious.

Then pranks become vandalism.

It’s all about the intent of the act.

When light-hearted” becomes “malicious”, we’ve stepped into a different arena.

Vandalism is intentional, willful or malicious destruction, damage or defacement of public or private property.

Vandalism involving damaging tombstones or destroying monuments is desecration.

There seems to be a lot more “meanness” in the world today and that leads to people smashing and burning things.

Your team wins a big game and some take that as a signal to celebrate by overturning vehicles and burning them.

TV doesn’t help either but it has been a boon for the mask industry.

True vandalism does not involve stealing, like the “Smash and Grab” problems we see in some retail establishments.

The word :vandalism” comes from the East Germanic tribes that notoriously sacked the city of Rome in the year 455.

The Vandals later pulled their “pranks” during the French Revolution in the 1790’s when they caused senseless and deliberate destruction of cherished art and culture.

So these hooligans we see on the nightly news are doing something that’s been for thousands of years.

This article was spawned by vandals wrecking a public restroom in a local park.

Back in the day, folks would tip over outhouses.

I noted that there are 4 types of vandalism.

There’s graffiti, property damage, arson and now digital vandalism.

I wonder if carving my initials into the bark of an old tree to document my love for a young gal while growing up was really vandalism.

There were a few trees in the woods behind our Eastview Allotment home in Mansfield, Ohio that sported “JEF + (gal of the week)” carvings in the bark.

I’m pretty sure there were some old lockers at school that had similar “Magic Marker” notations on the inside.

Brings me to rail cars.

I am frankly amazed at some of the spray can artwork I view on the sides of boxcars and auto-haulers when stopped for a passing train.

It’s frankly pretty good.

I’ve often wondered if I could organize a “Train Car Art Show” and charge admission to view the work.

But that would be promoting vandalism, wouldn’t it?

I worked with a young man who was on the scene with the Marines in Iraq when the Saddam Hussein statue was toppled years ago.

I thought that would be a moment that would be seared into his memory.

But it was nothing more that historical vandalism.

One of my personal favorite “prank” memories was the night after my high school graduation.

The nerdy Foster graduate still had his amateur weather station in the backyard.

When I went to take my readings the next morning after our graduation party, I discovered my buddies had filled my rain gauge with about 5 inches of urine.

Frankly, a pretty good prank if you ask me.

I don’t think my buddies were making any kind of political statement with their act.

It was just a prank.

Today with door bell cameras everywhere, I probably would have full-color videos to prank them with.