A Conversation

Sitting here in the neighborhood coffee shop, I see all these people being “social.” But there’s never any interaction. We’re attached to our phones and tablets, talking and texting, but never having a traditional conversation. It’s all about the latest email or text from that one friend or coworker or whatever.

What happened to the days when a guy would ask a girl out for coffee?

It’s become like a game to me. I watch from my usual corner booth as droves of people stand in line, waiting to be served. There’s no friendly conversation. There’s no niceties. There’s just this emptiness in the eyes of the people that move almost in a march as they get closer to the front of the line to order their latest caffeine fix.

I feel like places like Starbucks have ruined what the coffee shop once used to be–a place to enjoy a good book or good conversation.

Now, it’s a race to a meeting, a conference call, a deadline.

And even though I wouldn’t be caught drinking coffee, I love to sip on my tea, soaking up the next great American novel, and watching those around me ignore the world around them. There’s days where I want to just sit down at someone else’s table and strike up some small talk. Aside from the fact that I’d be too embarrassed to go through with it, the reaction I bet would be less than enthusiastic.

People are so afraid to step out of line, to say something wrong or struggle with what to say. It’s like we’ve lost the art form of pleasantries and good, old-fashioned dialogue.

But every now and then some real conversation is good for everyone. It’s why I’ve given up on carrying around my phone with me. What’s the point? I don’t care about the latest fashion trends. I don’t have some fancy job where I need to be on-call 24/7.

I live the life of a writer. Simplistic. Grounded. It’s all I need.

And this is what I know: if I’m going to be writing the future, it will be more than just a simple summary of the way technology changed the world. It will be a great speech recorded for those to listen to, to understand and comprehend on a deeper level. It will be an oral tradition, something that we’ve taken for granted as the centuries have gone by.

The time of Shakespeare and the other great playwrights had a good thing going. It’s time to bring that back to the masses.

But it’s also because of this tradition that I feel I need to step out of my comfort zone, out of my corner table. I need to do what I want others to do. Lead by example and all that. How else will change happen if I’m also unwilling to do my part to create it?

I see the same woman sitting in the table across from me. Every day around lunch, she comes in, orders a jasmine green tea, and cracks open a Jane Austen novel. A woman after my own heart. If ever I could join a stranger, she’d be who I’d want to spend my time with. She has such a soft expression on her face, a light upturn to her lips, a warmth in her eyes. And the best part? No phone in sight.

It’s taken weeks to build up the courage, but I think I’m ready to venture out into this new wilderness we call conversation. My only hope is that she feels the same craving for connection that I do, that she wants to go back to the way things were before.

Wish me luck.