An Amalgam in Starbucks...

Firstly, if you don't know what an amalgam is....look it up, I did.

Secondly, I'd like to express my gratitude to the great people who invented the salted caramel beverage I had tonight.

And know to the amalgam...

This evening, as I sit in front of a borrowed laptop living what formerly was known as the American Dream I can't help but be more than ordinarily attentive to my surroundings.  As a franchise, Starbucks has one hell of a story.  A roller coaster of success if you will.  But its the inerts of Starbucks that I think about right now...

While I slide myself into a small side table to set up shop, its nearly impossible not to brush shoulders, bump elbows and make awkward eye contact with my fellow patrons.  Nevertheless, I settle in and wait as this laptop boots up, if you will.

Immediately...I get caught up in a conversation that I'm not even a part of.  Don't judge me, I don't have much relational contact these days.

And then another conversation ensues directly a table in front of me.  And even in the interaction between the employees of this glorified establishment seem to be spirited tonight.  And the non-verbals being displayed is absolutely amaz...sorry, I was a communications major.

Anyhow, with all of this going on around me, my mind is about to explode because I realize that there are so many languages being spoken. 

Let me explain.

Directly to my northeast, there are three younger girls.  Younger means probably high schoolers.  They are listening as one of their friends discusses the Facebook affair her boyfriend is having on her...In the words of Will Ferrel, "You know I don't speak Spanish!"

Then in another instance, immediately north of me, a couple of middle-Eastern gentlemen carry on a conversation in what I would stereotypically assume to be their native tongue...That one's pretty self-explanatory.

I order a drink...a salted something that I've never heard of.  The hostess politely invites me to choose from an assortment of sizes including tall, venti, grande and I think she may have offered up something about a tall-vented-grandious sized drink called the Yetti...

Further north, two students appear to have their noses crammed in books that I wouldn't know anything about.  For our purpose, lets call it ontology.  Sounds yummy.

So here I sit, in the melting pot that is Starbucks.  Wondering about so many things.  Do teenage girls know what a drama-less life is like...are the middle-Eastern gentlemen talking about me...was my degree worth the bank breaking debt I'm bogged down with.

Is it inhumane to not interfere with the stresses that are everyday life...I don't think so...

If we surpassed all of our hurts, aches and pains of daily living, there would be no growth and purpose in life would be very hard to search for and find.