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I think it's interesting to note that a cup of coffee, despite how wonderful it may taste, is never perfect. No matter how much or how little water, cream and/or sugar you may mix into it, the coffee is always either too bitter - or too bland. Alright, so that's a simple matter of taste, right? Let's look deeper. If the coffee is always, at its core, "wrong" in one way or the other, does this actually state anything about the coffee itself? Or, in actuality, does it say something far more interesting about the person drinking the coffee? The obvious meaning of this is very familiar to anyone who's ever studied their own psyche; the individual is never fully satisfied, even if one actually gets the very cup of coffee that one thinks he or she is desiring. People, especially those of us who spend our time studying the world, always want more. They'll always pick apart the coffee's taste (if only in our minds) and think about how much better it would be if there was just a little less cream, or how a couple more scoops of sugar would solve the problem. On the surface, this seems like a negative trait, just another check mark to add to the seemingly unending list of flaws that this species is often characterized by. However, what if, in fact, it could instead be seen as a positive? Yes, we're forever doomed to hopelessness, by our very nature. We'll never get quite what we want. Consider, though, what this says about how strong and stubborn our drive is. It takes a powerful motivation to continually push forward in the way that we do, despite our knowledge of how inaccessible perfection is. We pick things apart and try to fix them and while, truthfully, some of us choose to give up and drown in the futility of it, the movers and changers among us fight against it; they take on the world in a battle to accomplish dreams that they'll never fully realize - at least, not in quite the way they might have imagined it. Humanity is flawed, no doubt about it. We're hypocritical, self-interested and often point ourselves in the wrong direction if it's easier. It's our fighting spirit, though, that redeems us. It's our need to deconstruct imperfect things and try, try and try again in an effort to finally get it right that proves where our real worth lies. It proves why, in fact, we do deserve to exist. Anyhow, I think I'm going to go get another cup of coffee now that I've finished the last one. Maybe this time, I'll add less sugar so it won't be too sweet. -Nicholas Conley
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