About a quarter-past one is rush hour for the college cafeteria. The usual assortment of perky, attractive, talkative, yet astoundingly shallow teenagers you'd expect float through then, lattes in hand. A few steps behind are the self-anointed rejects and losers that line the edges of the cafeteria, afraid that stepping further inside will somehow diminish them. Occasionally you see others, like me, that never belonged to either group, quickly buying fountain drinks and salads before scurrying off to do god knows what.This particular day I rushed past the crowds, mumbling to myself, ignoring my surroundings except for the occasional pair of legs threatening to impede my passage. I was two colas, a Sprite, and a SOBE Green Tea into my day. It was becoming one of those magical moments where I was begging to meet a urinal. Only a few feet to go. I might be exaggerating, but I think I was gritting my teeth. I slam the door marked “Men” and another beyond it on their hinges. Ugh, defeat. All the urinals are busy. Fuck that, past them into the stalls beyond. Never choose the first one; second one isn't so hot either. Third stall's the charm. Fumble with the door, rush past, and...Everything was fine now. My bladder no longer threatening to explode in a sudden rush of conscience. That's when I spied the writing on the wall...It read: Fuck all u jewBelow it was etched a large symbol, which from the above was evidently suppose to be a swastika. This particular symbol had arms which bent twice rather than the swastika's single right angle.Had this been all that was on the wall, I would have proceeded to zip up my pants and have a nice day. Despite whatever issues I might have with the moron who felt the need to broadcast his hatred and bigotry, I don't fight wars with enemies who are both long gone and not worth the time of day in the first place. What kept me was the writing below, in neat block letters:

FIRST OF ALL, ITS FUCK ALL YOU JEWS MORONSECOND, THATS A BUDDHIST SYMBOL OF STRENGTHNOT A SWASTIKA YOU STUPID FUCK!

And that fascinated me; that somebody would take their time to carefully etch into the bathroom stall wall a response. Not only that, he included punctuation and his writing was impeccable. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry, so I walked out and went to class. Later that day, somebody pointed out that my fly was down.

***

I wrote that later that day, still confused as to what to think. I'd like to point out, the symbol on the wall was not the Buddhist symbol that our mystery writer alluded to. That symbol is the swastika itself, which has a history older and richer than even the Egyptian Ankh. The Chinese refer to it as “wan zi”, the Japanese as “man zi”. It typically signifies resignation. Hindu's take it to mean “sacred fire”. The swastika that Westerners associate with Hitler is arranged with arms counter-clockwise and was meant to distinguish members of the National Socialist party. Just though you might want to know.Another magical nothingness happened later that day, but we'll save that for tommorow.Ja.