Shaved-ice and watermelon disrupt lives so wonderfully! In Faenza, mid-summer, post work-day, after
dinner, they walk to the zocalo. Families
corral kids and go out into the street.
Old people, young lovers, singles step out into the warm night and make
their way down the block. Coming
together under a big canopy; community. Snow-cones and seasonal fruit, wood
benches and plastic chairs, man-to-man, coteries of women, cliques of
twenty-somethings---catching-up, connecting, “haven’t seen you for a while,”
---evening stretches into late night. So
it was a quarter-century ago.
I fear it’s a lost tradition. Getting together is no longer
a focus. Casual coffee is going the same
route; the ‘pour over’ is being automated because it takes four minutes too
long. We hate lines, so we avoid events.
We are submitting to our lesser selves.
We become little Gollums whose ‘Precious’ is our privacy. It’s
easy to hide at home. Technology makes
it possible. We work from home. We
worship at home. We shop from home. Bumping elbows with humans is uncomfortable. People can be annoying. Unless they’re just like us. Then they’re irritating. It’s never been good for man to be alone.
To become healthy humans, or hobbits, we need to leave the
house. Build extra time into our
schedules. Set down the phone. Yes, the lines will frustrate. Humanity will give you a hundred reasons this
was a bad idea. Wait for the moments.
The mother playful with her baby; a shared smile with a fellow customer
in line, the scent of a perfume like being in love, affirming words on a
tee-shirt, real beauty inked onto a tattoo sleeve. A simple four-minute pour
over colors your world with more than coffee; rubbing up against people opens
us up to being more richly human ourselves.
1 comment:
Very true
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