004: Idealism

February 19, 2010
Mark 12:28-34

I love coffee shops. It’s a blessing to me that I live in the Pacific Northwest because coffee shops are plentiful. I have a long list of favorites, each for unique reasons, but they all share what I call the “coffee shop mentality”. The most evident thing about “coffee shop mentality” is how coffee shops are nurturing places for artistry and brilliance.

Coffee shops invite people to think big thoughts.

I’m an idealist. I’ve had many friends point that out to me, usually with a shake of their head. I’ve been reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” ever since it came up three times in three different conversations over three weeks – three is one of my favorite number, so it seemed like good enough of a reason to pull it off my shelf and dust off my intentions. In the section I was just reading, Robert Pirsig, the brilliant author (and I say brilliant because I think I’m a little blinded by some of his ideas, but the ones I do understand I think are quite novel and revolutionary… or at least worded to sound such) was discussing Quality and what that is exactly. He delved into the realm of understanding Quality while teaching at a University in Bozeman.

Tonight I was also watching Freedom Writers, the inspiring – albeit romantically portrayed and somewhat unrealistic – story of the influence an English teacher has on an integrated public school in Southern California. The movie impacted me profoundly on two occasions:

The first was when Gruwell sat at the table with her husband and acknowledged that he was right, she was in love with the idea of him and who he could be, not actually with him as himself. She said, “But it was such a great idea.”

The second time was when Gruwell’s father told her she’d been given “the blessing of the burden” of responsibility toward her classroom. He told her that how she had handled it meant he could “look at [her] and be impressed.”

Pirsig, Gruwell, and coffee shops have made me ponder ideas – big ideas – and how we interact and work with their presence in our lives. There is a peculiar balance we must attain. Gruwell had great ideas, and ran with them, and it brought tremendous success and failure together. Pirsig did the same. Coffee shops are the womb of idea babies. How will I live in light of my ideas? How will I live in light of my ideals?

I’m thankful that I have “the blessing of the burden” of being an idealist. I want to use who I am and how I’ve been made in a way that, when I see my Creator and Father face to face someday, He can look into my eyes and say, “I look at you and I am impressed by you. I am proud of you. Well done, my good, faithful, and beloved daughter.”

And that challenges me to think, am I living in a way that will bring that response today?