On Sunday, a dad in Brisbane, Australia, looked down and noticed a familiar symbol chalked into the concrete pavement of his son's grade school.
The dad, who chose not to disclose his personal information, told BuzzFeed News he immediately recognized it as a symbol from his elementary school years. He knew of the symbol's significance, but couldn't quite remember why.
His photo logs one of the most recent, and modern, documentations of what was commonly referred to in the '90s as "The S Thing." It might be evidence that kids today are still doing "The S Thing" at school. (!!!!)
BuzzFeed News was unable to immediately authenticate the evidence, or identify who the young chalk artist was.
We do know, however, that this could confirm the theory that The S Thing transcends generations, culture, time, and space.
And if a deadly disease, or idk this so-called climate change, ever wiped out humanity, The S Thing will be all that's left for humanity to be remembered by.
When the dad, who goes by @c_tho on Twitter, casually shared the photo, people were excited by the possibility.
.@c_tho @AmyDentata IT STILL LIVES.
Glad to see the youth are keeping important traditions alive https://t.co/tHuw0VpguH
This is oddly comforting https://t.co/ZR8UB5UOpB
~Older~ folks had renewed hope for the future, and the children of our futures.
Still hope for the future. https://t.co/SvjBmfZbaJ
Especially when the ~current climate~ has made the future a bit discouraging.
There's hope for this new generation after all. https://t.co/fZVs260Ocu
"Our future might be okay after all."
Our future might be okay after all. https://t.co/zYwuB5Sx3J
"All hope isn't lost."
All hope isn't lost. https://t.co/YKk5geJWo5
Many people are only now realizing just how universal it was.
@c_tho I'm realising this is a global thing. I'm from Chile and remember we all did this in our notebooks.
@c_tho @GeorgeChandIer6 how far did this go across the world! I was drawing these in Canning Town, London in 1994
@c_tho We did them in Sweden as well, early '90s in Stockholm! Why? Nobody knows... @JoeSondow
"I'm now realizing that it went well beyond Brisbane," @c_tho told BuzzFeed News after his photo went viral. It's currently been retweeted over 40,000 times.
@c_tho how is this a universal thing who did we learn it from :/
Over the years, people suspected and assumed that the symbol has its origins in the Superman franchise, or the clothing brand Stussy. But mysteriously, there is still no clear answer.
@c_tho
All we have is the comfort and optimism that — some way, somehow — The S Thing will live on for generations to come.
