I don’t know if people do it today, I don’t know if it is the “in” thing or the popular thing anymore. But it was in my day. In fact, my best friend and I had a lot of fun doing this particular activity. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Now I’m not endorsing it — but it was called toilet papering.
Especially during my senior year, Darien and I were involved in this “under the cover of darkness” activity on a regular basis.
Our most frequent enemies were two classmates, Audrey and Michelle (I have not changed their names to protect the innocent because they were far from it!). They toilet papered my house almost every weekend. And of course it just seemed appropriate for Darien and I to return the favor.
We had some great times. For example, one Wednesday morning during the school year, we got up and toilet papered both of their houses at 4:30AM. The timing of this strike was crucial since we had agreed on Tuesday to sign a truce at 8AM before school — calling for an end to the hostility. This obviously allowed us to get the final blow.
One of the most memorable parts about this season of toilet papering was that we wouldn’t actually throw it away when we cleaned up, but we’d collect it in garbage bags and use the “used” toilet paper as confetti when we returned the favor. Of course, after two or three months of transferring the same paper products back and forth — paper that had sat outside in the middle of the night getting wet, then kept in a dark garbage bag — you can imagine some of the nice looking mold growing in that mess. One time we took it a bit further and prepared an entire garbage bag full of one inch square confetti and dumped that on their yard.
My all time favorite TP memory was a party we threw called “White Christmas.” Darien and I invited probably two-thirds of our senior class — like 100 people — to come to this party. The first element of the evening required everyone to meet at Burger King to receive instructions for a scavenger hunt around town. Then we were to meet at a park to determine the winning group.
The second half of the night was kept a secret — except that it wasn’t a secret to anyone except Audrey and Michelle. Everyone else was told verbally when they got their invite to bring at least four rolls of toilet paper — two for Audrey’s house and two for Michelle’s. So when we met together after the scavenger hunt we told people, “Just follow the lead car.” There must have been 50-60 people all together, and after a short drive we all pulled up in front of Michelle’s house, got out, and went to work. What are you going to do when 50 people show up to toilet paper your house?
Nothing.
And in case you’re wondering, neither Darien or I threw a single roll, because we had signed the truce.
Anyway, when we got done with the first location we went over to Audrey’s house and did the same. We had a ton of fun. We were all just hanging out, talking to each other. Her parents came out and greeted us when we arrived. They even invited us in for hot chocolate afterward. Since we’d been videotaping the whole thing we watched the footage while getting warm.
Both Audrey and Michelle lived out in the country, far away from city lights and frequent traffic. Audrey’s house, in particular, provided a unique challenge since her family operated a pig farm. It seems like pigs never sleep, or at least not all the pigs sleep at the same time. Even in the middle of the night pigs are awake — or that’s my experience. Every time we would go to toilet paper her house it always sounded like people were up and awake, banging around in the barn. We eventually just had to get over the fear and believe that it was just the pigs opening and shutting the feed bins. We had to get over the fear that someone was going to come out of the barn with their shotgun and run us off.
Well, because it was a farm, and because this was the family’s livelihood — their job — there were some signs all around the property. And though all our toilet papering was done in good fun, in our youthful immaturity we had failed to consider the significance of the many signs that decorated the fences and barns on the Hodge farm; signs that read:
“NO TRESPASSING”Every time Darien and I set foot on their property when they didn’t know it, we were doing something illegal. As successful as we many times were, our toilet-papering crusades were in reality - against the law!
And while thankfully Audrey’s parents were very gracious they had every legal right to call the police and press charges for our illegal actions. And if they would have pressed charges — we would have lost. There were multiple signs up — all over the farm — that said “No trespassing.” By disregarding the signs we had deliberately trespassed on property which was not ours.
So even though it was fun — it was wrong. Even though no one could see us, even though we were never caught — it was criminal. It was not a problem of the line being unclear — the warning signs were clearly marked. We were guilty and deserved to pay the penatly for our offense.
law.com gives the following definition for trespassing:
“entering another person’s property without permission of the owner…and causing any damage, no matter how slight.”The idea of trespassing is unlawful interference with another person’s property. The reality of trespassing is this: if I make use of, or damage, your property against your wishes — I am stealing the use of your stuff. So trespassing is against the law. It is a criminal offense and punishable by monetary fines or perhaps even jail time. Whether a person trespasses due to ignorance or deliberate defiance, the result is the same: they have gone onto someone else’s property and are deserving of prosecution.
I told that entire story and given you these definitions not because I’m afraid of you trespassing on someone’s pig farm, but trespassing in the area of relationships. This picture of trespassing provides an excellent (though spiritually saddening) picture of so many relationships between young men and women.
When you trespass, on physical or emotional grounds that are not yours it is a criminal offense against God’s law. So, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. That’s the name of our series. When you tread on physical ground that isn’t yours, you are trespassing. When you steal someone’s heart and take emotional intimacy that isn’t yours, you are trespassing. That is something that God takes very seriously and it something He expects us to be serious about as well. It is our one28 Wednesday series for this year — Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.
