Mark and I are an agreeable sort. Our parenting styles, politics, palates and musical preferences are more similar than they are different. But we don't agree upon everything.
Like coffee, which Mark ranks as one of his top ten things IN THE WORLD. I kid you not--in the world! I know this because he reminded me of that ranking just this morning, when I curled my lips at his steaming cup of joe.
"How can you NOT love coffee?!" he sputtered, his breath already fouled by the venerable bean.
Even back in high school--at a time in human history when high schoolers had never pondered drinking coffee and Starbucks was just some sugar-and-cream-laden dream in an infant entrepreneur's mind--I compared the taste of the hot beverage to licking an ashtray.
Granted, I had never had a sip of coffee or run my tongue across an ashtray, but that descriptor still resonates with me even today.
And, really, where would humanity be if we agreed with each other all the time? What would happen to all those kooky variants and skin colors and music styles if everyone's taste was in sync with each others?
I'll tell you what would happen--we'd find outselve in H-E-double-hockey-sticks, that's what!
Because we are free to disagree (wasn't that a Marlo Thomas song?), we also are free to grow, something that would be hard to come by if everyone liked the very same things. For instance, because some people I like very much happen to like rap--a genre I'm not naturally drawn to--I have come to find a place in my heart--and in my iTunes collection--for a little Jay Z, tucked between the Talking Heads and Michelle Shocked.
Shocked, indeed!
All this variety--which both pop and corporate cultures try so hard to flatten out and deny--keeps things interesting. And human. And, I could argue, humane.
My senses are heightened--not dulled--by exposure to new things and different people. The first time I had a student with foot-long, perfectly-formed spikes atop his head (the perfect venue, he discovered, for straws), I was confronted with my prejudice and presumptions. Turns out, he was a great kid, with really, really stiff hair.
Whoopee. All that former fuss for nothing.
Huh. So, maybe I should try coffee. Maybe I'm missing out on yet another way to connect with people. Maybe, three cups into my brave-new-beverage foray, I'd finally overcome my deep-seated java prejudices.
Maybe the best part of waking up really is Folgers in the cup.
Coffee is overrated. I do find myself feeling a little left out in the world because of my feelings towards coffee. I keep trying fancified starbucks-esque types of coffee drinks (with foam, chocolate, whip cream, sprinkles and other things to change the taste), being told by many that "I never liked coffee until I tried this and now I have one every day!" All that comes through is the awful taste of coffee.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you have successfully put "Free to Be, You and Me" into my head. I will come into the library today and sing it for you so that you can suffer too ;)