I spent the week watering the well. Drinking coffee from five Ethiopian regions, feeling a link to the small family farms that depend on the income from the sales of beans, thankful to have a good relationship with a coffee seller in DC who provides me the 15 to 20 pounds my daughter sends me every two or three months.
But I cant get my friends to try it! The corporate brands have them dialed in. So this mornings Sumatra brings an old question: how do you get people to change? Why is change resisted?
In part the questions explain the Republican attraction: People dont have to give up very much except government to be Republican. Its a safe default for the risk-averse, even when in sight of something better.
I also spent the week anticipating the visit of friends I havent seen in 40 years. That energy was a celebration of passage; how vision grows out of change. Vision pushes away fear and brings hope. That why Sarah Palin sneered at that hopey thingit give a freedom found on the inside, a freedom to grow; not just a freedom to fight government. Friends bring collective energy, a unique group experience that in politics is called the public good...