Small Religious Bits in Large Quantities

  Have you ever noticed on the bottom of your Forever 21 bag that in little letters John 3:16 is written? The other day I was walking home from Fordham through Times Square and I just happened to notice the lady ahead of me was carrying A Forever 21 bag tucked and rolled up underneath her arm. The bottom of the bag was facing out because of how she placed it in her arm. I noticed John 3:16 written on the bottom of the bag and fairly small letters, compared to the script sizing on the rest of the bag.  If I hadn’t been wearing my glasses, there was no chance I would have seen it, but this night I was being lazy and didn’t feel like taking my backpack off to put my glasses away.  It didn’t really occur to me that it was a reference to a biblical passage at first.  As I continued walking I was approaching the Forever21 right in the middle of Times Square, so I figured I would go in and ask to look at a bag. Sure enough there on the bottom of the bag was John 3:16.

        I had to look up what John 3:16 was and was wondering why a big chain store like Forever 21 would put it on the bottom of there bags. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) As speculation of where it came from, it seems that the best ideas as to why Forever 21 has chosen to print this on the bag is a combination of the founder being a devoted Christian and a support for the name. It is hypothesized that besides a quiet method of spreading the word, their names is a spin off of John 3:16 in that persons shall have everlasting life. Not that they physically will forever be 21 but that they will live on in their prime as if the were 21 forever.

         As one of the apparent most common biblical references used, I was surprised to find out that Forever 21 is not the only company that hides this scripture number. Not only that but if you look into it or pay more attention you can find it in other places around the city, from signs, bags, to advertisements, and cups.  I was pretty surprised to see all the places where it comes up just in daily life where I had never noticed it before. As well this got me thinking about all the other number religious attributes that must be present throughout life that go unnoticed by mostly everyone.  Every time I walk through Times Square now, especially on a busy day for tourist and there are hundreds of the Forever 21 bags in the arms of the tourists. In any direction there are numerous reminders of how much religious affiliation still has grounding in the American system.