Try Again?

So now I'm a barista at a local coffee shop (www.thecommonplacecoffeehouse.com) and a campus minister on a campus of 14,000 undergrad students. This is quite a bit different than the place I graduated from just past May. The sense of apathy is thick and the longing to be known is evident. But don't we all long to be known and to be pursued?

Coffee shops are interesting places to run to in order to be alone, to "get away from the busyness of life" when in fact we gather there to be around people, to be in the presence of others. I do this consistently, I think anyone who lives alone can understand this concept. But what is it?

I was behind the counter the other day and I asked myself "do all these conversations mean anything. Do they spur us into action or are they just circular debates/topics that never end?" I don't think they are pointless, but some of them are just conversations that try to prove that we know something, or that we are somebody (who we truly are not).

I guess that is just the human behavior, not so much the coffee shop atmosphere. When you congregate people you congregate the human condition.