The Wisdom Table. (original) (raw)

In towns across East Texas, big and small, there�s usually a place where elderly men gather each morning to have a cup or two of coffee--and solve the world�s problems. Well, maybe some of the problems.

The other morning, Doris and I stopped at McDonald�s in Gilmeron the way back to Lufkin from Mount Pleasant.

And, there they were--Gilmer�s elderly coffee drinkers, clustered around a table in the corner, attacking the world�s biggest issues with enthusiasm. Kidding them, I asked if they represented the collective wisdom of Gilmer.

�Nope,� said one of them, �here, the women have all the wisdom; we just pretend we do.�

The morning coffee drinkers in other East Texas towns aren�t as truthful as those in Gilmer.

And they don�t usually go to McDonald�s for their coffee.

In Lufkin, we once had a bunch of men who went to a local feed store in the downtown area for their morning coffee, but they eventually moved to a truck stop cafe until the cafe closed its doors. I haven�t checked to see if they have a new home, but I suspect they do.

I wondered why Gilmer�s wise men went to McDonald�s until I found out the coffee was free after the first cup, not only in the morning but in the afternoon when the wise men came back for a second session of world problem-solving.

McDonald�s is probably smart by hosting the wisdom table. The restaurant not only sells food to the coffee-drinkers, but the manager can probably call on any of them if he needs a problem solved. After all, if the wisdom table is willing to tackle the world�s problems, a plumbing problem ought to be a cinch.

The morning we stopped at the table, the conversation was going full speed over the outcome of the presidential race. Although East Texas is normally Democratic, I suspect that most of the men at the wisdom table voted Republican.

But one of the coffee drinkers admitted that Barack Obama was smart, eloquent, and had two cute daughters. �Yep,� said another coffee drinker, �and he has a nice tan, too.�

I wanted to stick around and see if the wisdom table could solve some of my problems.

But the highway beckoned, the radio was playing a song by Willie Nelson and I knew there were other wisdom tables down the road.