The Bathroom Wall

Fuck you all

Bless Jesus
Five words. Two lines. I found them on the wall of the bathroom that I frequent which is around the corner from my office. It is the bathroom most usually used by the dock workers and transport personnel around here and as a result it can get quite dirty but it is also the one closest to me and I tend to value how quickly I can make it there over anything else. Occasionally some of these people take it upon themselves to bestow the rest of us with their scribblings of wisdom. Normally these scribblings stay there for a undetermined period of time before being cleaned off or painted over because not a lot of professionals make their way to this bathroom. I mean you don't really see any presidents or CPOs in this area.

As I said, on this particularly fateful day I came at my normal prescribed time to take care of my business and I noticed these two lines that had been hastily scrawled on the wall. They clearly came from the same pen and the handwriting was the same. What struck me immediately was how different each line was from the other in content. The first line is very angry and antagonistic. Fuck you all. To me it means that everyone has either done something to anger the author or at least he believes that they will given the chance and he is taking the time to deliver a pre-emptive strike before they get their opportunity to do so. It speaks of a disdain for everybody else, no matter who they may be.

The second line, Bless Jesus, is much different in tone and on the surface the meaning is very clear. I mean, Bless Jesus doesn't seem to have many ways you can go with it. Basically you are blessing Jesus. Short, sweet and simple. You really can't even debate what the author intends with this line. However I must admit that it took me aback to see it following the first line and that really changed the meaning when I read both lines together.

There is this strange duality in these two simple lines. Remember this is only my opinion but to me Fuck you all Bless Jesus was written by a person who thinks that they are above everyone else in some way. Either morally, spiritually, emotionally or even monetarily and this person felt compelled to notify the rest of us about this fact. He damns us all and then takes time to show that he is better than us even if it's only in his mind. I'm not saying he is right and I'm not saying he is wrong and I'm certainly not saying that I'm perfect because I am far from it. I make just as many (my wife might say more) mistakes as anybody else but I'm not trying to go around putting myself on a pedestal either.

Of course I did notice that however superior the author feels he is, he did leave his missive unsigned which signifies that he doesn't want to take a chance on anyone really identifying him. Perhaps he feels it's better to reign in anonimity rather than have all of the lesser people angry with him. Or he could be just a loon. Or I could be reading too much into the situation. Or it could be time for me to go for now.