John Strelecky is an inspirational speaker, founder of a charity designed to help people live out their dreams. He wrote a book called The Why You Are Here Café in 2003, and in 2006 it has been “modernized,” apparently to keep up to date with advances in America’s coffee craze. The Why Café echoes words like “wi-fi” and “café wha” and the new cover, with its depiction of a steaming latte instead of the usual diner cuppa rustica that one might expect at the diner described in the book, is obviously designed to catch the eye of the coffee cognoscenti.

The Why Café is pure allegory, about a man named John. John might agree with Dante Alighieri who wrote so dramatically at the beginning of The Inferno,

In the middle of our life's way
I found myself in a wood so dark
That I couldn't tell where the straight path lay.

Why are you here?

Do you fear death?

Are you fulfilled?

The book doesn’t have a conclusive ending. It doesn’t say “do this and everything will be better.” In fact, John has to admit, “I really don’t know which direction I’m supposed to go now.” For an answer, Mike points him down the road, as though there was literally a way for John to get to where he needs to go. But they both know that whatever happens next, it will be up John to find the path.

The Why Café can be read as a harmless diversion off the highway, or a series of signposts. It’s up to you.