Graffiti on the bathroom stall at a graduate school of theology makes you wonder about the human need to mark their territory, to leave their imprint so that the world will know that they did indeed exist. Admittedly the graffiti was somehow appropriately deep in its scope posing questions as to the existence of the soul and an image of the three crosses on a hill with a question mark forcing you to think about what they were trying to imply; but still somehow it was surprising to see. In public places it’s something pretty much expected. Graffiti has ancient roots so much so that even in the forum of Rome and on monuments in ancient Greece, the walls were tagged with advertisements for anything from lawyers to prostitutes, and with messages like, “Claudius was here” alongside professions of love and some of the same obscenities we see today. Driving along the freeway today we see on retaining walls, underpasses, even the buildings along the road all manor of images, political messages, gangs marking their borders, profanity, you name it. Some are incredibly artistic, so much so that it has been recognized as an art form and is being demonstrated all over the world (there was even a live demonstration and display along the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland last summer). You never know what you might find from deep “philosophical fragments” (Kierkegaard probably wrote some interesting graffiti in his time) to ignorant statements of hate, or from vulgar stick figures to vibrant caricatures and vivid landscapes with a poignant message; graffiti is not limited to back alleys and school bathrooms.