A land of handholding and coffee!!

written by Nathan

Ethiopia is a delightful culture. Beautiful smiles are everywhere here. Public hugging and holding hands is commonplace. A certain happiness, contentment, and familiarity rings from all corners.

In some ways, culture forms building blocks bringing us together, giving a sense of 'belonging," making us feel comfortable. Culture is pervasively public in Asia and Africa.

For many years I have probed the subject of what makes a great culture. There is no shortage of answers easy or complex. So, for brevity's sake - this is my exposition of simple traits of great cultures….

Many years ago I came to a personal discovery of what makes great culture: coffee and bread. Part of this comes from my pride of being a New Orleanian. If we have given the world Jazz, Creole culture, American food, Franco-American opera and the like, what you cannot get in any imitated form outside of New Orleans is its coffee or 'French' bread.

After a bit of travel, I concluded that the places which felt most cultured to me in the best sense of the word had these two defining characteristics embedded deep in the cultural soul: good coffee and delicious bread. Paris has the bread and coffee culture. Buenos Aires has it too. Ethiopia ranks happily on this quality culture list.