About two centuries ago, La Jolla was settled by a group of joyful people engaging in the arts. It wasn’t just the quaint cottages and shops they built that gave the Village its charisma. It was the people themselves who had unprecedented solidarity and camaraderie that gave the Village its unique character. Peace and love filled the air. Time brings changes. Who let the wolves in? Nowcomers who harbored malice and hostility came into the community. Let’s look at three examples: A man came who wanted to destroy the memorial cross on the hill. A sophomore student on our peaceful university campus started a riot because she hated Newt Gingrich, whom the UC San Diego president asked to address the graduating class. Discord divided the campus. Another more recent incident is the throwing of the ball into the seal rookery where seal pups were being born. The act flushed the seals into the ocean. Newly born pups are not able to survive in water. These are just three incidents. There are others. What could have been the outcome of the incidents? The man who wanted to tear down the cross has died. The student two hated the graduation speaker would well be an operations officer in Afghanistan. The person to wanted to kill the seals could possibly be made a docent in the Fish and Game Department. — Patirica Weber has lived in La Jolla for 58 years.







