the order of things: published in the bethel university coeval, fall 2018

It’s Wednesday morning and I’ve made my way across town to tackle my to-do list from a high-top table in the Whittier neighborhood. The noise level in the cafe has reached a comfortable din: loud enough to have reached the point where individual voices are no longer distinguishable, instead every sound has overlapped the last one to create a woven tapestry of rhythmic humming. I do my best work in this sort of place, gleaning productivity from the chaotic order.

There is an elderly man sitting at the table next to mine who introduced himself to me moments ago as Sunny Eagle. He drinks a coffee and a tea at the same time - holding one beverage in both wrinkled, tanned hands. Every once in a while, he’ll stand and raise one of his steaming mugs above his head, exclaiming to the whole cafe in a thick East Asian accent, “Wonderful!” or, “Very good!” He turns his head like an owl, admiring his surroundings. He seems elated by the sunshine streaming through the windows, causing a fuzzy halo of morning light to form around his unruly black hair, sprinkled with streaks of silver. He does a few laps around the coffee house, walking with a slight limp, nodding and smiling to some customers, bowing and smiling to others. “Wonderful!” “Very good!” We nod and smile back. He raises a mug, toasting the general atmosphere. His cheerful disposition is contagious.

As I scribble notes in the margins of Foucault (Les Mots et les choses seems oddly appropriate, in a paradoxical way), I find myself wanting to become more like Sunny. I want to seek joy and find light in everyday things, like the strangers I pass on the street and in the sunshine. Approaching each day with unbridled curiosity and extending a hand or a cup of tea, affirming each person’s presence: inviting them to share in the simple pleasure of it all. Disallowing anyone to feel unseen or unheard. You are welcome here, and so are you, and you. And it is “Wonderful!” and so very good to be here with you. Sharing this grace in order to make each place a little warmer. A little more sunny.

As I sit at my high-top table, surveying the environment which I have become a part of this morning, I find myself praying to God and everyone and no one in particular: Let’s have a little more sun.

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Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Random House, 1994.