The Solitary Coffee Bean

Again? I found a coffee bean that escaped the grinder. I pay for my favourite blend, and the coffee shop grinds it. I’m writing this piece because I can’t ignore it anymore. There’s always a coffee bean that escapes.

It’s a reminder that life is a dichotomy. We are born alone, even twins, but live with other people like two colorful birds on a tree; a colony of ants; a pride of lions or mama chicken with her brood pecking away for food in the yard. Trying to live outside the group usually brings misery on both sides. Example. I throw away these coffee beans that escape the grinder. They are useless, because I cannot put them in a coffee maker to produce a cup of coffee.

But it will be myopic to completely discard the value of the solitary bean. It’s there for a reason. We know the classic problem. Parents who are doctors want kids to be doctors. The same with basketball and football players, but there are some parents who will drive kids to the community center, if they are interested in table tennis or the piano.

When it comes to marriage, some societies do not entertain solitary beans that want to marry for love. Parents arrange marriages for sons and daughters because preservation of religion and culture comes first. We end up resenting parents for forcing us back into the coffee grinder. There are examples of solitary beans, that are successful outside the religion or culture grinder. There are also beans that returned home, because the world saw them as belonging to a group and treated them as such.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.