Skateboarding Taught Me Everything About Life
I owe that plank of wood so much
The punch to her face hit so hard that she collapsed and lay motionless on the ground.
Immediately, mayhem broke out everywhere.
Abuse began hurling through the air, followed by bottles and rocks. Fights were breaking out left, right, and center. In the background, the overbearing lights of the traveling carnival shone a faint warm orange across the scene. Amidst the chaos, somebody ran towards her body. He dropped to his knees and shook her. No response. He shouted for help, but no one could hear him over the chaos. Seconds later, he picked up her lifeless body and flung it over his shoulder, before running towards the park’s fence line, about 100 meters away, where his car was parked. A few others followed with panic in their eyes and anxiousness in their voices.
And there was me, standing amongst it all, trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed. I could only have been 14 or 15 at the time. I had seen some crazy things happen at our local skatepark before; people bringing weapons, fights, drug abuse, but nothing like a fully grown man hitting a woman half his height and inciting a riot.
I look back on my memories of this concrete jungle — my second home — with mixed emotions. There are days that I…
