I love the idea of coffee shops and what they represent in our society today. I value it far more than the idea of tweeting constantly and whipping out our phones to take yet another photo of our food and drink. Though our generation thrives on these things, when concerning the former, I am definitely proud to be a representative of these times. And it’s because of “these times,” I am able to write to you from the local coffee shop in the middle of a typical workday. Unemployment is a serious matter, but for now, I want to address something currently more on the forefront of my mind: community and the coffee that sits at its table. Because though we easily express our need for coffee to function, community is just as (if not more) important.
This all comes flooding to my mind as I bump knees with a forty-something year old, track jacket-wearing, bearded gamer who is very much focused on the dragons he is slaying while I myself, attempt to slay the job boards. I guess I can’t really blame him, for he probably has a thriving career so I latch onto his passion and use it as fuel for my day’s to dos. And though I do not know this gentlemen’s name, I found a surprising amount of value from his greeting to me before he made his descent across the way — or what was 6 inches from the back of my laptop.
As he settled in, he greeted the gentlemen at the same table with a “please, have a seat.” I’m not sure where my appreciation came from (and if he’s ever even met this said man before) but perhaps it was the recent noticeable isolation I’ve decided to acknowledge, that we Americans (I suppose I can only credibly speak for the Southern Californian population) embody a solid and quiet whole. And if I gather a good moment of reflection, I find it’s because of coffee shops, the average human stands a chance in experiencing a moment of authentic community—interaction in the simplest of ways. And since driving in your car from place to place daily while talking to yourself or to the radio does not count as true interaction, this observation has managed to help me see things a bit clearer and commends the often forgotten “community” and it’s efforts for trying to exist amidst such self-driven agendas.
“Excuse me, what are you studying?”
“Sir, your cup’s water ring is growing nearer to my iPhone, do you mind moving it a few inches to the left?”
“So what are you reading currently in the Bible?”
“Do you mind plugging my cord in for me?”
The possibilities are endless. And whatever it may be, the exchange of words to a stranger from a stranger holds a part of a weight that is used to comprise this idea of “community.” And though not all interactions are pleasant (I left out some un-caffeinated-based dialogue) the point is to communicate, to interact, to converse, or when simplified, to love others. It’s comparable to walking down the street upright making eye contact to the passers-by. That is much more essential to the human soul than to focus on your own needs, like counting the cracks on the floor or trampling unseen snails on a dewy morning (true story though entirely momentarily irrelevant).
It is my selfish goals and desires that get in the way of my pursuit of others and community, so I suppose this is my conviction. My agenda to succeed and to live life in the fast lane trumps the greater agenda that is to be present, to seek relationships whether big or small and to shine some sort of light even on a dewy and dark day. Simply smiling at the grocery lady or sparking up a conversation with someone who is clearly having a bad day — because bagging your economy-sized pack of gold-toe socks isn’t as much of a highlight to them as it is certainly to you, is easy and is doable. Fortunately, I’ve recently found myself among a plethora of unknown individuals frequently so the occasion has definitely presented itself, thus the effort must simply follow.
And so, community will be the proof that it is possible to thread together individual minds into a like-minded communal force that radiates positivity we surely all need and that is something I want to be apart of. I want to be a better representative of community. To be present intentionally is something I must add to my to do list. For starters, eye smiling at strangers and wiping other’s water rings shall suffice for the initial steps. For the power to influence others around us is in fact, powerful. And when used intentionally, I bet coffee ends up tasting a bit better.
