Coffee Solutions

At our Spring Run Golf complex, in southwest Florida, we have a wonderful forum for discussion. Every weekday, at 9 A.M., several individuals gather for coffee and a discussion on world events, domestic policy and a dozen other subjects. There is no set agenda, nor are there any regular attendees. Whoever shows up that morning, brings up a subject and it gets batted around, by a knowledgeable group of people, all of whom have “been around for a while.” They have also been successful in their various careers, are well-educated and well informed on many esoteric subject areas. You tend to think first, before you opine in this group. And it behooves you to be ready to back up what you say with facts, not empty rhetoric.

The repartee is sometimes spirited and the verbiage inflated. But, everyone realizes that these are all friends and neighbors and that none of us is deciding the fate of the world. We are just retirees  “chewing the fat.” Perhaps, if we had a pickle barrel and an old cast iron stove present it might help set the stage. And if we all were whittling branches with sharp knives, the setting might seem more like “Americana” from another age, when older members of the clan sat around reviewing matters of the day.

The erudition of most is impressive. Some are indeed attorneys, used to hashing out differences, in volleys of verbal exchanges, meant to convince a jury. The rest of us are just natural “holders of opinions,” meaning to “have our say.” The collegiality of everyone is laudable. I remember conversations like this, from the gin-mill days of my youth. It wasn’t uncommon, after a heated exchange on a controversial subject, for someone to launch himself  over a barstool  and smack the opposing arguer in the kisser. At the time, this was never viewed as anti-social aggression, just a lively emphasis on a subject that one believed in.

Here, we are not given to such emphasis. Perhaps a subtle shake of the head, or a disapproving grimace, might accompany someone else’s analysis of a subject. They might really want to say “C’mon, who are you kidding? Give me a break.” But, they don’t. When they can squeeze in a comment, and sometimes that is like trying to cross a busy urban avenue, they offer their own summary of the time and events involved in that matter.

Usually, quite quickly, the conversation drifts onward from nuclear war and disarmament,  to where you can get the best pizza in town, or  playing golf the next day. It really doesn’t matter. It is a civilized exchange, of learned individuals, parsing the events of the day, domestically and around the world. Most of us admit that our knowledge, of a given area, is a “mile wide and an inch deep.” We know what we hear and see on the televised news programs, or what we read in news-papers every day. Those accounts are by their nature capsule summaries, some slanted to the writer’s bias. Even that usually gives us a leg up on most people, who peruse neither medium and are interested in even less.

In any case, if you find yourselves in our area, on any weekday morning at 9 A.M., stop by, draw a cup of coffee from the urn and weigh in on what is being discussed. Fresh meat is always welcome to verbal carnivores. And a thinly researched subject area might get you good naturedly roasted by the panel of verbal swordsmen. But, you will be much welcomed for your insight, analysis and contributions to the group. And if we don’t come up with any real solutions to anything, at least we have passed a pleasant hour or two, in collegial conversation, in a beautiful setting on a gorgeous Florida day in Winter.

                                    -30-

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                         Joseph Xavier Martin