American Coffee

Bought some Dunkin' Donuts brand coffee beans.  It's like regular coffee, only moreso.  It's extremely average making it special and beloved, like Norman Rockwell and turkey for Thanksgiving.  Excessive normalcy.  Dunkin' Donuts is a coffee oxymoron.  If I'm living in Paris one day and feeling nostalgic for America, I'll ask someone to send me some Dunkin' Donuts Coffee and make myself a medium size cup, let it cool to just above tepid, and drink it while listening to Alabama and Springsteen and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Pope Franky, Here's Wishing You Well. . .

I'm not a devout Catholic anymore, but I respect many parts of the institution, including their attempts to help the destitute, their attempt to create a global community for good, and providing a tradition that helps many feel connected to the divine.  A visionary leader could ameliorate those parts which are short-sighted and not in keeping with the deeper teachings of Jesus.  I'm not interested in the dogma and I'm not interested in tradition.  To take an organization with as much inertia as the staid and billion-strong multinational members in a different direction, one that jibes with human nature without dumbing itself down to human nature's baser instincts is more than just difficult.  It's a miracle waiting to happen, and we need a saintly and awesome leader.

But I sincerely hope for greatness.  If he can take the religion away from it's clear failings (the leadership failure to effectively deal with priest child molestation, stance on gay rights and contraception in developing nations, et al.), he will allow the church to devote its attention where it belongs: modeling Jesus love.  That's a good thing for the world given the far-reaching hands of the church.

Mortality

Riding to work this morning (RTWTM), I  thought that archetypical thought, "What if I knew then what I know now..." and reviewed my old relationships and decisions from the standpoint of someone wisened by life's jarring lessons and a proclivity to look underneath to see how things work.

Having just spend a couple hours with one of my former students talking over her next stage in life (whether to stay near San Diego or move to NYC to pursue a graduate degree), and received a positive word about how that helped her clarify her thoughts, I put the two thoughts together.

It's not a new idea, but how could it be strengthened?  In prehistoric times, the tribal elders were omnipresent lending their experience and wisdom to everyone all the time.  Contrasting with our fragmented society where the old are shuttled off to their own enclaves to live out their autumn years together.

And think of all the young who would benefit from a few hours a month talking about their issues with some thoughtful oldster who has the time and inclination to leave a larger legacy than a pile of poopstained Depends(tm)

Why isn't someone putting these two groups together?