Malpensa’s gleaming new Terminal One and the quiet, fast express train into Milan are certainly showcases of Italy’s modern technology and construction. So was the Milan Underground system that I remembered from my last visit several years back. Not any more. Now its modern trains and beautifully marbled stations are totally desecrated by layer upon layer of graffiti.

It appears that the civil government has lost control of the situation. Graffiti is beginning to ooze from the Underground onto buildings in Milan’s central area because "taggers" have run out of space underground. Store fronts of buildings housing designer clothing, even Milan’s famous Duomo (Cathedral) and the La Scala Opera House have become coveted backdrops. However, they at least show signs of the graffiti having been painted over, giving the impression that there, at least, someone hasn’t given up on the problem.

Graffiti is not confined to Italy’s trains and buildings. It was evident in other places I visited, too, but not as prevalent, in London, Athens, Istanbul and Ephesus. We see plenty of it here, too. In fact, it is everywhere and has been so since we humans have learned to use our hands as the devil‘s workshop. Moreover, in some places, it is an epidemic of destruction. Graffiti has advanced from "Dick loves Jane" and "Kilroy was Here" to huge abstracts of unintelligible psychedelic colored words obliterating signs, covering sides of buildings and whole train cars as if painted there by some giant moron.

To me, graffiti is a visual sign of our weakening social structures of family and civil government, i.e., permissive parents who do not teach the meaning of the Tenth Commandment, "You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor" and civil governments giving tacit approval by not dealing severely with those who deface property.

The city that knows how, San Francisco, has a graffiti patrol—police and painters—trying to cope with the problem. I marvel at their tenacity—both that of the taggers and the painting patrol. For example, the 19th Avenue entrance from Interstate 280 into San Francisco that I frequently use has an overpass where graffiti must have been painted over 200 times in the last 5 years. The blight seems to return within 24 hours.

Given the city’s use of cameras to catch red light jumpers, I’ve wondered, "What would happen if the graffiti patrol were to place a hidden surveillance camera at that spot?" Of course, there is an assumption that our District Attorney would prosecute those caught in an act of "surface coveting." Then there is the big question: Would our permissive courts hold them accountable? Would a judge impose fines on them or the parents of juveniles for lack of supervision?

In an attempt to find out "public policy," I called the Public Information Officer at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. It was 3:45 pm on a Friday. I got his voice mail. As they say in the big daily papers, "My call wasn’t returned by press time." (Let’s hope he wasn’t out tagging buildings.)

One place where there is not a graffiti problem is Singapore. We know why, too. They don’t believe in sparing the rod. Their government deals harshly with those who are caught in the act of destruction with graffiti blight.

In our Christian tradition, is respect for the goods of others. Our children need to be taught that respect along with other social graces. The Tenth Commandment forbids the injustice of harming our neighbor in coveting his temporal goods. The Catechism (2536) reminds us that when the Law says, "You shall not covet," these words mean that we should banish our desires for whatever does not belong to us, neither attempting to acquire by fraud or stealing or defacing, anything belonging to others. To do so is a sinful action.

The TENTH COMMANDMENT unfolds and completes the Ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh. The tenth teaches that coveting the goods of others is the root of theft, robbery, and fraud, which the Seventh Commandment forbids.

The TENTH COMMANDMENT concerns the intentions of the heart. With the Ninth, the Tenth summarizes all the precepts of the Law. Matthew (22,34-40) reminds us that the first and greatest commandment and the First is to love God. The best way we can show God that we love him is by loving our neighbors and respecting their property.