FTW

I was standing in line for the cashier at the hardware store waiting to check out. I could see the gray-haired older man, whom was in line in front of me; outside in front of the store, struggling with his bicycle cart. His bicycle cart was somewhat reminiscent of a rickshaw, in the Orient. Instead of using the bicycle to transport travelers from one destination to the next, this man had his entire life within the back of his three-wheeled bicycle cart, umbrellas and all. I watched and listened to this man, as he was cussing at the tire, and the cart which it was supposed to be attached to. This is when I noticed the jailhouse tattoo on his left shoulder: FTW (fuck the world). This FTW tattoo, covered the entire top part of his hairy, wife beater t-shirt wearing, sunburned shoulder. I could tell the tattoo was done with a shaky hand, as the outline went from thick to thin, and back to thick, within each letter, which comprised the eloquent: FTW. It was not bad quality for India ink, and a G string from a guitar, as it was probably the best that type of quality could provide, given the circumstances. As I watched this grey-haired older man, continuously struggle to change one of the back tires of his cart, I could still hear this man cussing from inside of the hardware store. I could not help but think; I guess he didn’t fuck the world, the world fucked him. Life has a way of doing that.