University of Virginia Library

'Do Be Do Be Do'

"To be is to do Nebuhr
To do is to be, Tillich. Do be
do be do Sinatra."

As the author descended
from floor to floor, a strange
pattern became evident. The
lower I got the deeper the
sense of despair of the graffiti
became. The simple nihilism of
"It don't mean nothing," was
followed by "Life is a constant
struggle against nothingness."
Below was found, "Life is a
constant fight against
optimists." Finally far below
the fourth floor, on the first
floor, where the sun never
shines, and men toil in
unrewarded labors, I found the
graffiti of profound despair.
Happy thoughts on smooth
plaster gave way to
hopelessness on rough
cinder blocks.

I felt like Dante descending
into the Inferno, with each
level containing ever more
wretched collections of
humanity. I wondered whether
anyone had ever scrawled a
graffito on the walls of Hell.

"We are Sisyphus, not
Prometheus," laments the
graitist. He goes on "Man is
condemned to impotence. The
will is a myth. We are trapped
within cinder block walls that
muffle our cries. All we can do
is write on the walls...queer
vandalism."

Another agrees. "Why do
anything?"

But the irresistible reply
comes, "So we can learn that
Tonga is a British protectorate
in the central Pacific." There is
wit even in the pit of hell, The
long dead graffitists of Pomp
would be proud.