We, You, Future?

The coffee shop was abuzz. Talk rumbled at every table. An occasional burst of laughter over in the corner, a muffled shriek of delight at one table; hurried greetings and hugs at others as meetups were initiated. How many places like this are hubbubs of activity this day? And in how many places?

Meetups. People gathering two by two, or by threes; talking and sharing ideas. Connecting. Little by little ideas are spoken, shared. Inch by inch ideas are built, new ones, from the bodies of the earlier ideas. Emergent thinking created. Over a cup of coffee. Or bowl of soup.

This is how the future is made. One idea at a time. One casual meetup at a time. Brains thinking and building. Building fresh ideas, approaches. Solving one problem at a time. Forging ahead through the power of we.

Power of we. You and I. you and some other person. Two people sharing, now a third, maybe a fourth. Suddenly they understand something they had missed before. Like a snap of the fingers realizations dawn. And they did it.

Of course all of this is going on at many of the tables, even the ones with solo folks, sitting at their computer chewing a sandwich. They are not alone; they are on the internet or deep in an email exchange where a conversation is underway. They are doing what the others are doing, only electronically. Ideas are being shared. Notes are scribbled on paper or tapped into a keyboard.

The hubbub of the coffee house. In this case a Panera Bread storefront. Duplicated in countless shops just like it all over America. Think of it. Think of the sharing, the conversations and the idle thought. All of this producing understanding and expansion of minds.

I’ve often wondered what the store managers think about the buzz in their stores. Do they realize what their patrons are doing in their spaces? Are they aware of the problems being discussed and fresh thinking emerging from those chats? All seemingly casual. But oh, so important.

I observed strangers meeting, by appointment of course, but they hadn’t known each other before. One spoke broken English; his companion spoke employer English. They were meeting to follow up on a possible job opening. An interview! Later I saw them raptly listening to one another. Animated reactions to their talk popped up from time to time. They were getting into it and understanding each other. I wondered if the fellow with broken English was an immigrant, a visitor to America, or a bookish researcher in a lab or university think tank. Just wondered.

At another table bits of conversation burbled into public airwaves. They were talking organizational issues and problems; possible solutions. At another table a philosophical point was being pieced together. At another I know they were talking science. A little math over there.

All around people were connecting dribs and drabs that became mighty ideas. Making sense of the complex world. Bringing a little light to dim recesses of the mind.

And so it goes in that coffee shop. How many others were doing the same in other diners, restaurants and coffee houses? How many more people were building the future one idea at a time?

Is our future so bleak that no one talks about it?

Not where I live! The times are alive with thinking and connecting and inventing.

Are you part of this? Are you aware this is happening? All around at other tables? Maybe at yours as well?

If so, you – and we – are making the future right this instant. The answers are right there at the tip of your fingers, our fingers. At a table with a cup of coffee, a spoon, and a rumpled napkin.

A place where thinking and sharing are welcome. And your ideas. Our ideas. The future?

September 29, 2017