G is for Graffiti

My daughter, Allison, wrote this a few years ago when she was a student at Samford University.  It made me laugh and I thought others might enjoy it too.

Give Up on the Graffiti

"Don't cheat" proclaim the words that are staring at me from the back panel of the cubicle in which I am sitting. Thank you, Mr. (or Ms.) Library Graffiti Artist. I'm glad you're such an upstanding moral citizen.

As I diligently procrastinate studying for the midterm I have tomorrow, I can't help thinking to myself that while there is probably graffiti in every college campus's library, there is one type that is probably unique to Samford. What is it, you ask?
It's not the different Greek letters. Although, I have to admit, those do kind of puzzle me. I mean, what exactly is the point? Is it a recruitment thing? Or is it some secret sorority/fraternity contest that leaves independents in the dark?
I can just imagine the announcements at chapter meetings: "In a disturbing twist to this week's race, there are now more than 30 Sigma Chi logos carved on those cubicles. We've got to step it up, boys."

It's not the "Annie loves Joe" inscriptions, either. I'm sure library tables on every campus have these. Why, though?
Is it a poor college student's version of a matchmaking service? "Maybe if Joe sits at this same table sometime during the next four years, he'll know I have feelings for him!"
Or maybe by that time, you'll have found a different boyfriend, and you'll have to make sure neither of them ever comes near the table where that freshman year Connections group crush is now on permanent display for the next 30 years.

While pretty much all forms of graffiti are a mystery to me, that Samford specialty of the Bible verses are perhaps the most intriguing. Because I brought some BP homework with me to the library, I conveniently have my New Interpreter's Study Bible handy, so I look some of them up. To save you the trouble, I've reproduced them, along with my own interpretation of what the graffiti-ist might have meant.

On a second-floor round table: 1 Peter 1:8-9, "Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."  I guess I haven't felt the type of "indescribable and glorious joy" that makes you really want to dig into something with a pencil.

In a third-floor cubicle: Jeremiah 33:3, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." Sounds great. Could you leave your phone number next time? And are these "great and hidden things" in any way related to that midterm I have tomorrow?

In the same cubicle: 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."  I'm glad you have no anxiety. Really, I am. But the Library Police could be just around the corner. Aren't you just the tiniest bit afraid they might catch you with that Sharpie?

I know that Deuteronomy 6:9 says to write the Scriptures "on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." But Proverbs 3:3 says to "bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."  Don't you think that's just a little more practical (and respectful of school property) than carving them into that table at the library?