I love street art. While traveling the world, street art, murals, graffiti, give you invaluable insight to the local culture.  What inspires the local people to speak out through their paint? What angers people enough to cause the to take to walls?  Sometimes, often, people just want to leave their handprint behind. People want to mark a place as somewhere they have been.

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon L. Alder

Why yes. I do hate pants. I hardly every wear them. Just this past week, I came to realize that there is one other person besides me in our workplace that never wears pants. Jeans have taken over the world.  People tell me all the time that they wear jeans because it is so comfortable. I find pants and jeans to be the opposite of comfort. I love dresses and the feeling of being free.  That is why when I went into this bathroom stall in Toronto, I had to pause and photography this person’s statement/inquiry.

Up on the ceiling of this local barbecue joint in the northern coast of California, people leave their mark by leaving behind a dollar or license plates as testimonial to their arrival and departure. My son looked up at the ceiling and imagined the day this local restaurant closes its doors forever and takes down the dollars. He noted that the owner would know that people had stopped by.  Indeed. A different set of footprints and legacy but legacy nonetheless.

I have often subscribed to the workplace motto of “work hard, party hard”.   However, I do like this “work hard, be nice” admonition this construction site placed for all to see in the San Francisco tech area.  Should serve as a reminder to all those techies taking over the San Francisco city streets that just because they work hard, it doesn’t mean that they can’t do what they can to make sure that those that don’t have as much money can still have affordable housing. That’s my take on the billboard.  I am sure that we all have different interpretations of such a statement. That is why I love these signs, murals, graffiti and street art that individuals leave behind as part of their legacy. The letters and the words are left there for others to interpret and take to heart as they may.

I have never left behind any writings on a wall while abroad. If I were to do so, I am it too sue what it would say. I would want something more than my name.  I would want something more than a generic wish for peace on earth. Maybe I would leave behind a drawing of a brain with a pair of high heels etched over it. You would then figure out what I tried to say and come up with your own story for my story. ‘Tis how the world works.