Today's posting title is an oxymoron, as far as I am concerned. It is not possible to receive a jolt from any beverage that is lacking in caffeine, but, isn't that the point of caffeine anyway?
Initially, caffeine acts as a stimulant and people react differently to its effect. College students, high school students, sleep-deprived parents, and those whose occupations require staying alert for extended periods of time rely on products that contain caffeine. When I was a college student, if I had to work into the night (or through the night as college students are want to do), my stay-awake-beverage of choice was tea. To this day, black tea will make me wakeful long beyond its time of ingestion. Another young woman from my college days added copious amounts of black pepper to her coffee or tea. Now there's a jolt!
Why am writing about coffee, tea, caffeine, and caffeineless jolts? Because early one recent morning, I felt the effect of an uncaffeinated jolt.......a nearby, lower-level earthquake. Mother Nature must have wanted the attention of my geographic area so she shook our collective shoulders, as any mother would do, and let us know it was time to wake up. Of course, I did not realize that which had awakened me - rattling windows - was the result of an earthquake, but I did quickly rule out all of the usual suspects. Since it was very early morning, I did not think that the neighborhood quarry would be dynamiting at that hour of the day.....I could not hear the road noise of an eighteen-wheeler rumbling by on the highway near us.......and I could not hear any further evidence of snow-removal crews and equipment working on my driveway approach or street. So I lay there in bed, listening intently for a few minutes, then drifted back to sleep, only to be awakened shortly thereafter by a relative in another state, who had just heard about the earthquake on her television and called to see if I had felt it.
Mother Nature's jolt contained no caffeine or products designed to keep people awake, but it did pack a gentle punch that got peoples' attention and, probably, kept them awake afterward. She (Mother Nature) reminded us that she can do anything, at any time, anywhere, and at any 'volume' (look at Haiti). Unlike a human mother, Mother Nature does not differentiate between urban/rural, wealthy/poverty, plains/mountains, or hot/cold. She just dishes out whatever is on her geological menu for that day or night. She determines what her jolt will be.
I think I would prefer trying my old college friend's jolt of black pepper in her coffee and tea.
Ancora imparo
