clouds in my coffee

I have an addiction to coffee. In NoVa there is a Starbucks on just about every corner, and I can tell you which ones make the best coffee, which ones have the friendliest partners, and which ones have the best seating/learning environment. I have become a connoisseur of the rich, thick aroma and bold taste of a great cup of coffee. I press my own often, but sometimes I just feel the need to go inside and enjoy the experience. A hot cup of coffee (or Vanilla Skim Latte, depending on the mood), a good book, and the loop of the same music are what make Starbucks the booming success it is. I have a theory that Starbucks is to music what Oprah is to books. They package what might not be seen as mainstream music (Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Alanis unplugged) and market it to the herds of thick-walleted, upper-middle class consumers that bombard them to fulfill their caffeine addiction by purchasing over-priced coffee simply because that tan cup with the green mermaid is a status symbol among working people across America.

I digress, the caffeine addiction and love/hate relationship with Starbucks, while a central part of my life, is not the point of this post - it is the cup. As most of you know, Starbucks has "The Way I See It" on the back of their cups - I am usually too busy enjoying my sweet nectar of the gods to worry about what the cup says, but today I read my cup - and received a pleasantly thought provoking surprise.

"Everywhere, unthinking mobs of 'independent thinkers' wield tired clichés like cudgels, pummeling those who dare question 'enlightened' dogma. If 'violence never solved anything," cops wouldn't have guns and slaves may never have been freed. If it's better that 10 guilty men go free to spare one innocent, why not free 100 or 1,000,000? Clichés begin arguments, they don't settle them." - Jonah Goldberg (editor-at-large of National Review Online)

We do say that violence isn’t the answer. We teach little kids that it’s not okay to bite or hit, that the best way to solve a problem is to go to the teacher – one should always try to attempt to resolve an issue diplomatically instead of physically. These are the rules we follow in offices and malls (even Starbucks) around the country, yet these are the rules we throw aside in situations that we view as the exceptions to the norms.

If violence isn’t the answer, then why do we send thousands of troops Iraq to solve a problem? We view it unacceptable to resort to violence when you don’t get your way through the ‘traditional’ methods of diplomacy in any other situation. However, when it comes to international politics and police/FBI/CIA work – violence is ALWAYS an option and if often viewed as the best answer even when there are other options available.

I say all of this to say that I think we get ourselves into trouble by teaching our kids these clichés, and telling them that they are the standard for life. They, like the golden rule, are applicable in all areas of life, yet this is not the message that we send in our everyday actions. People across America see their government behaving in manner that says, “Screw diplomacy, I want what I want when I want it. And if I can’t get nicely, I’ll use force if necessary.” Maybe, just maybe, this attitude of our leaders has/will pass down to the masses, and people are emulating their government. What irony it would be if the leaders of the free world were role models for their own citizens, and the message they were sending was one of violence and using force to get what you wanted.

I say all of this, but the kernel of wisdom on my tan paper cup remains the same: “Clichés begin arguments, the don’t settle them.”