At my therapist's office last week, I excused myself to use the restroom. My therapist's office is in an old building, dating from I'd guess late 1800's to early 1900's. The bathroom reflects this. Tiny stalls made from marble slab and closed by solid hardwood doors set the time period well. Even if the cramped space makes me feel like I'm in Lilliput.
Because of the original wood's antiquity, there is no way to gauge the age of graffiti. I sit and ponder it, wonder what soul was here when and wrote that little summary of their life.
I tried a new stall last week during my therapy appointment. I sat, and directly in front of me were the words, "Practice charity without thought of reciproc." My first thought was to take a pen and add "ity" to the last word, but my second through two million thoughts have been about the content.
Who would write such a gracious and caring message? Who would graffiti such a gracious and caring message? When was it written? Given the piety of this town, was this from a sermon? Actually from the Bible somewhere? Wait, who knew that this was the message I needed?
"Practice charity without thought of reciprocity." Isn't that what I've been working on in therapy the last year? Clementia? Mercy? Compassion? And now graffiti reminds me.
I mentioned it to my therapist. He laughed and said, "Is that still there?" He went on to say, "Don't you just want to correct the spelling of that last word?" Yes, yes I did. And, don't worry, he's not a bad therapist. We discussed the graffiti in the context of my life and the lessons I struggle with.
"Practice charity without the thought of..." "Practice charity..." Yes, "Practice charity without thought of reciproc." Questionably spelled words to ponder in life's restroom.
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3 comments:
Your male therapist knows about the graffiti in the woman's stall, eh? :0) hope
I would also want to complete the last word. Naturally, I wouldn't do it. Graffiting graffiti seems like a double-wrong…
The bathroom is a really odd unisex restroom with three stalls and a urinal. It makes no sense. It's the bathroom for the whole floor of the office building. There's a pass code lock to get in, then a deadbolt on the inside once you're in. So, in essence, when you go to the bathroom, you use an entire restroom of stalls and urinal. It feels so excessive. I've always used the same stall, but I decided to branch out, and that's when I discovered the more interesting graffiti. Can't wait to try the third stall!
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