Coffee

(I had to write these journals for a class this past Spring. Thought a few entries would make a good preface for my blog... )

January 7, 2011

Coffee wakes me up in the morning. About 15 minutes after I start drinking I can feel the caffeine hit my blood stream. It does not feel like jitters or physical energy. It feel metaphysical, a transcending energy that gets to my soul. It feels like hope. I know that’s a quite existential way to look at a drug-infused beverage, but I think Moritz Thomsen would agree with me. He often mentions his coffee in his writing. I think this is because, though the drought of his situations, coffee gave him the energy I feel when I drink it. I’m not ashamed of my dependence; I only use it like a catalyst for a good day. We all do what we have to do. On my short list of fears for the Peace Corps is that I will get placed in a location where instant Nescafe is the only coffee available. I don’t talk about this a lot, but 30% of my motivation for wanting to be placed in Latin America is because I enjoy coffee from this region so much. I want to grow my own, or make friends with a coffee farmer and have delicious coffee every day.

I would like to continue with ideas from the last set of readings. I mean, the articles designated for this journal were interesting, but the topic is diluted and there was an idea from one of the other articles that lighted in me. Plus, I dug into some anthropology in the last journal which took up a lot of space. Now, philosophy. Naming the Faith developed ideas about motivation for an act like serving for the Peace Corps which I can relate with, though I have not yet fully developed. Maybe I will use this as a starting point. Charles Eugène de Foucauld, after some other research, is a beatified martyred Catholic priest who, as the article stated, “…believed it was necessary to live the life of the poor in order to understand what is most precious and most truly human about life”. What an incredible statement! I have experienced this in small parts, seen joy and poverty blended so intricately and paradoxically that it changed my view of the world. I have always been a proponent of others experiencing this as well, and encouraged it for the proper development of compassion and appreciation in the life of a middle class person in a developed world.

I would say that my motivation for having the desire to serve in the Peace Corps is to give back, to use my God given skills in a way that benefits others without the opportunities that I have. It’s not a completely selfless motivation, of course. On my end I get adventure, traveling, growing in patience and leadership skills.  Did I ever consider the more expansive self-motivated reason for wanting to participate in the Peace Corps? That is, that I might gain that understanding about what is most precious and human about life. I submit, what could be more valuable?

The author makes another statement that struck me, “As humans, we are strengthened by good work and deepened by pain”. I have recently developed a personal belief that the most interesting people are those who have been through something painful and have come out of it still functioning. I want to be around these people, talk to them and figure out their minds. They are deep. I also want to be one of these people. I don’t look for pain, but when it inevitably comes I want to embrace it, knowing that it is making me a deeper person. I think I can add these to my selfish reasons for volunteering for the Peace Corps. I want to research Charles Eugène de Foucauld some more, hopefully I can find more literature about him.