The writing's on the wall

Graffiti has existed since early times. I recall seeing some in a 4000BC Tomb in Egypt. It has always included the subversive, "street speak" of its local culture. Again in Ephesus, early wall scribblings elevated plain speaking about prostitution to an art form. It has often been expressed in picture form rather than text to gain a wider reach, as it recognised that many of the masses were illliterate. So too this piece which I discovered recently on a gable wall near me in Belfast. It is post modern as it allows me to interpret what it means.  It reminds me of that great quote from one of our local poets - "whatever you say, say nothing".  At the start of a new year, it reminds me that evil happens when good people do and say nothing - the guilt of the bystander as we call it in "peacebuilding" terms. I wonder how many people here, in this place I call home, feel voiceless, not by choice but by circumstances. Maybe this year you, I can enable that voice to be heard?

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