utopia?

Movies, writers -- society at large, has this philosophy -- this philosophy that lies in the inevitable human let down. The betrayal by humanity, some sort of pseudo-Deity feeling of great remorse for the ultimate lowering of one's standards for those who live with and around. So obviously, as social pressures do, this philosophy weighs down on me and gives me this sort of ultimatum that goes like this, "either accept the faultiness of humans now: accept that no human will ever treat you right; or you will be broken cruelly and unexpectedly in the future." Obviously, there is an innate sense of right and wrong -- and this sense is something that humans share -- and thusly, I suppose I am born with a sort of utopian idea that the things I deem right or wrong are ultimately right or wrong for everyone. Somehow.

So, maybe in my youth, or in my naievety I have yet to subscribe to the inevitable fatal human let down. Sure, sure I know that we are all sinners. However, as a sinner, I'm unable (as of now) to fully commit to an idea that says everyone will fail me -- I suppose I still believe that there are (and will be) people in my life who do nothing but good.

Anyhow, I was driving around town this morning after a good jog thinking about this and the fact that I was really happy that I didn't wear the Carhartt pants I was thinking about wearing. Instead I opted for shorts which turned out to be a much better idea in the 90 degree heat.

For obvious reasons the former occupied my thoughts for far longer than the latter and I began to think and stew on it for quite a while.

This was abruptly met by a quite hornery bank teller. The destination of my aforementioned driving was to cash a check at the bank. As I walked up I noted that the calendar still marked the 14th which was yesterday and the clock above the calendar read 9:14 - surely with two workers mulling around in the back the bank was open for business. Much to my chagrin they were not. Not only was the bank not open, but when I was caught off guard by such news and uttered a brainless, "reeeally?" I recieved a quite terse and sarcastic, "really." (i feel like if we announced punctuation points verbally she would have said, "really period" emphatically). Needless to say, I looked at my shoelaces and sauntered off like a scolded dog.

Luckily, this particular bank branch is located inside a Kroger - which is in a shopping center with a Starbucks. I ventured over to the Starbucks to sit in the sun, sip a coffee, and console myself for my rude treatment. As I sat there, these thoughts of utopia and people began to migrate more into the field of occupations - as this has been something very bothersome to me lately. It was a saturday and as I sat in Starbucks doing a little people watching I noticed countless men and women sitting in there with wedding bands on and just chattering away on their cell phones or clicking away on laptops. I saw three or four business meetings with very professional looking men who had just come from Brooks Brothers. I found all of this quite depressing. It's Saturday. Don't married people have spouses sitting at home? Don't some of them have children to play with?

All of this culminated with this idea of why are people so serious about life? I have no idea why people think that everything is so important. Why did that lady deem that those extra fifteen minutes were so important that some unsuspecting customer should recieve a trite remark? Why did these men think that money or power or their company or whatever was so important that they were neglecting far more important things - like teaching junior how to throw? This is one thing that I absolutely do not want to get caught up in. Then, right as I was about to leave, I saw a beautiful vintage Mercedes convertable pull in to the parking lot. A man, and I presume his wife, emerged and began to walk into Starbucks. When they were a few feet away from me I noticed that the man wasn't wearing any shoes.

This, to me, was brilliant. He got his paper and his coffee and was perfectly content sitting in the sun with his wife, reading the paper, drinking his coffee all the while being barefoot in a very public place - that is life. As I glanced to the right one table there were two guys stewing over the fact that his frappucino took "like 10 minutes" and commenting that "that lesbian barista is a sack of shit!" Is it really necessary to get so riled up over a drink taking a few minutes more than usual. I then glanced back and there was such a huge contrast between the seemingly carefree man reading his paper and the two 30 somethings cussing and carrying on about the lousy barista.

Maybe, this idea that people are incomplete is true. However, I'm beginning to think that the problem isn't so much in the people that do let you down. It's our failure to be inspired by people that don't. It's our failure to find great joy in simply seeing an old guy trouncing around barefoot in Starbucks because he doesn't care. It's the simple fact that we are too busy whining about the barista, or our bottom line, or our boss, or even those friends that do let us down -- that we completely miss those who don't. We completely miss our families, our good friends, and those random encounters that help us to recalibrate ourselves and see what is truly important.