Coffee Thursdays Just Brewing Thoughts
Life's purpose or propulsion
I found myself sitting with a warm cappuccino in a coffee shop at Valeria Street. I chose this place as a sanctuary for my indolent profession: A certified people observer. How sweet it is to sit back and watch the world go by, how bitter it is to feel the movement of these people passing by being strangers to one another. Life is like the bittersweet taste of my black coffee. Then came to me a question: There's a billion lives out there, and what does one life really mean? In our daily existence, we seem to be like drifting souls, heads down, always preoccupied with our own little lives.
We wake up at 7 a.m., go to work till 5 p.m. and end the day just like any other days of the past. We are doing the same routine for weeks, months and years. Meet the friends and co-workers we are bored to see, the family we are tired to deal with and our relatives we are ashamed of. We walk home everyday feeling exhausted and hoping someday life will be more interesting.
We read the newspaper skimming for stories that could profit our dull moments, and we are sick of government corruption, global warming, crimes and terrorist threats. Is there anything new in the news? We move on to today's horoscope, we concur with what they say and examine if it coincided, we laughed impishly at it and move to the next page for showbiz lifestyle and gossips, yet it appears to us we know better the life story of Kris Aquino compared to that woman who we call our neighbor.
We pray our lucky numbers will win the lottery, we eat the meals we can afford during our lunch break and at night we watch the primetime telenovelas and amuse with the character's lives because we don't have a life we are proud to call our own.
These are stories I can see in the eyes of people bustling in the streets. Some walk fast, some meandering about, and walking slow. They come in groups, couples and some walk alone. All of them are mirrors that we are all connected with same stories of our lives.
After a few minutes, my cup is half empty, should I see it as half full? Returning to my question, I failed to seek an answer that speaks for the majority; some great people live for purpose while most of us by propulsion. We may find ourselves at times lost in the streets of our journey, in this so-called life constantly living in the midst of uncertainty for direction. Our daily routine is no longer a choice but a situation that we just have to deal with. But let us make a difference everyday in one way or the other, let us not allow ourselves to see life meaningless when it has so much to offer.
In moments like these, I remind myself of the story of what Buddhists do: Every day have a little bird on your shoulder that asks ,"Is today the day I die ? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?"