The new banner is a picture taken on May 5, which began a new phase of life for me. Hopefully, it is a phase of life that can include an occasional blog post. I stopped blogging last September because I was tired of listening to myself. I trust the break has been refreshing for everyone – especially the 3 people who followed the blog regularly.
Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about how caffeine is the new crack and how coffee houses are not too different from crack houses. The only difference is that one substance is legal while the other is not. But there are many similarities: consumers are addicted, the drug is supplied in various forms to suit personal taste, comraderie is nurtured in the friendly confines of the drug-house, a satisfying buzz results from the drug-taking and the brief lasting effect of the drug ensures daily purchase. Little wonder that evangelicals of yesteryear were abolitionists when it came to caffeine, a conviction that only the Seventh-Day Adventists and Mormons were able to keep into modern times.
If anything, our appetite for coffee should remind us of how dependent we are on the comforts of food and drug. That said, I think moderation is the best way forward. Enjoy the comforts of this life, coffee included, but stay in control of your appetites. If we can’t control caffeine consumption, how will we have the will-power to fend off more sinister temptations? I really think there is a connection.
I agree, though coffee is just kind of an obvious example of a fairly obsessive culture, that takes entertainment as a life-need, food highs as a right, and convenience as the only option.
Obviously individuals vary, but the general cultural personality is skewed this way.
I am trying to work through addictive behaviors relating to coffee myself. Tea caffeine doesn’t effect me the same way, and I think many people don’t react to coffee caffeine the way I do, but the having a dependency is problematic.
If my husband hadn’t returned from Vietnam today with a small suitcase full of unmarked brown paper sacks, rolled tightly and wrapped in plastic, I might take this opportunity to examine myself & see whether my addiction is something I should address.
On the other hand, the man gets up every morning and before he leaves for work at 5:30, pours boiling water over that little metal filter perched atop my Mother’s Day cup, the grounds packed just right as only he can do it. He has done this for me most days of the last 19 years.
Nah. One cup is all it takes of this brew, and it just means too much.
Glad to have you back.
Glad you are back to your blog Dave.
What about pain medications? Although not used consumed as a recreational drink like coffee, it is a drug most folks are dependent upon for relief of aches and pains. Is any dependency wrong?
By the 4 comments and plus mine you have more than 3 readers