A Perfect Cup of Coffee

Requirement One -
A Discerning Palate

Years ago, when I was young, newly out of college and terribly impressionable; I had the privilege of temping in the catering department of a lovely hotel.  Now this was long ago and coffee was not yet, in the United States,  the thing it was to become.  A rather hit or miss endeavor.  And, as such, The Breakfast Room, a cheery, natural sun-splashed space for enjoying one's morning; had received some complaints about their coffee not being any good.  

To which, in response, the elegant and assured GM wrote a memo to the Catering Department.  I remember it very well.  I wish I had saved a copy.  It would be an important influence on the remainder of my life.  

She simply wrote that there had been several complaints about the quality of coffee being served in The Breakfast Room and that the first requirement for resolution was to determine whether anyone involved in the handling of morning coffee production was capable of discerning a good cup of coffee.

This statement awakened me greatly.  A discerning palate makes the necessary difference.  Remember, this is pre-Starbucks except on one's morning Bainbridge to Seattle ferry ride.  Not everyone was yet deeming themselves a connoisseur of good coffee.  But there it was.  The question.  Have you or anyone around you an adequately discerning palate?

And in that moment, in the midst of simple, clear directives, a metaphoric question awakened within me.  Who or what  is discerning the coffee I drink and what is it exactly that they know?

Aim to Awaken Truth

Somehow in that sea of early post-modernism and the value of all things being equal if not relative, I knew immediately that my non-discriminating attitude was not adequate.  It knew no aim.  A discerning palate was needed to get to something truly worthwhile.

And that realization has never left me.  Some have always known it.  Some have never.  But a beautifully, well-written memo forever marked me as one who wanted to know when and how things matter and where to find a discerning palate in the midst of many a bad cup of coffee.

So it is with education.  Not all learning is equal.  Not all learning awakens.  Not all learning is worthy of our consumption.

Some would think that within all of us is a sleeping giant of brilliance who merely needs to wake up.  The substance of the thing, however, is already there.  I do not think this.  I think the void of intelligence within so many precious human lives is a type of poverty that is as cruel as any theft. You can't awaken what doesn't already exist.  Yes, the potential (power and ability) is there.  But you need truthful direction to guide you.  Not any old opinion.  Not one that doesn't know the difference between muddy water and a truly satisfying, lovely, savoring-worthy cup of coffee.  Because they're not the same thing - even if you have decided that you prefer the muddy water - they are still not the same thing.  

When it comes to things that matter most (unlike coffee for some folk), such as the thoughts we think; muddy water borne of ease and quick judgement is never equal to the well-crafted, time honored, truly delicious thought. Thoughts that help us understand why things matter and how it is that we can live well and enjoy life.  Subjective existential happiness it might be called.  It is more often named wisdom.  

Aiming for truth is important.  Knowing that there is truth worthy of our aim,  an essential prerequisite.  Finding one (or ones)  who can help you discern it, transcendent. 

Good Coffee in the Classroom

The longer I have tutored and taught children, the clearer the implication of palate discerning for education has become.  We are in the fifteenth year of federally mandated curriculum resulting in educators running rashly from one set of poorly determined criteria to the next; all involving big promises by big money – with too little looking at the actual people who are our children.  And the question arises:

Who’s discerning a good cup of coffee for our children in terms of the things that truly matter and why it is that they matter?

All too often in education the end goal becomes something far too minor.  Grades are chased because they must be chased.  We all want a thriving future for our children.  But when the ‘discerning’ palates are not able to distinguish muddy thinking from truly awakening, something has gone terribly wrong.

I believe this happens quite often in education because the process becomes its own echo chamber and perspective gets lost.

A good cup of learning involves much laughter and wonder and joy.  And having fun discovering the gift of our own mind.  It should not be eternally laborious.  Not simply a shift from the cruel textile mill to the cruel academic mill, in which childhood is once again  lost to drudgery and merely, barely getting by.

We are losing our children to boredom and hopelessness, often because  meaningful wonder in school and education is not to be found.  Learning is about the fullness of self-becoming.  This is hard to accomplish without inspiration.

Work, then, to keep inspiration alive in your home.  Wonder. Joy. Insight.  New and challenging ideas.  Spend time thinking together.  Show the significance of good thinking.  Like a good cup of coffee, it tastes worthily better.

Resist the familiar tide  of making education simply the conquering of ideas.  Yes, education is partly a means to an end; but it is not entirely a means to an end.   It certainly should not be defined by memorization and tedious, “this-is-how-you-should-think-and-behave” opinions.

If it becomes that,  the breakfast room definitely needs help.

True, it is a fine line.  Not underestimating the beauty and wonder of education (determining it not really relevant for “our” family).  And, yet, not being entangled in the dreary, no-fun, little wonder that so much of public education has become in the name of knowledge possession for testing.  Neither copping out as if you are some how above it, nor chore-ing in for a better tomorrow, is a wise way to live in the journey of becoming.

Remember:  the goal is not knowledge acquisition but personhood awakening.  Learning to think about why things matter.  What makes them important.  How thoughts themselves shape our lives and our world.  Our very self.  Much of who I am is what I think.  What thoughts are you thinking?  What thoughts are you presuming?

Not all thoughts are equal.

Nor cups of coffee.

-R