During my time of writing opinions for The Lion’s Roar, I have written opinions about social justice speakers and how Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration per capita in the entire world. I’ve written of gender neutrality, said personal beliefs as well as what I think should change and I know that many times The Lion’s Roar has taken stances on opinions that I both agree with as well as disagree with. But my gosh, last week I learned that people care more about a cup over actual issues that matter. Do I dare bring up another social injustice issue, politics, how to act in certain situations or even how to possibly enjoy life to the fullest?

If you are not aware of it, Starbucks recently had plain, red cups take over for the holiday season. Some people believed that this was an attack on Christmas while others were okay with the basic design. With having a variety of friends, I have been able to see multiple sides of the argument.

I saw Christians against it, still trying to figure out how Christ and snowflakes go hand in hand. I’ve seen Christians say that is not how Christians should be, good job on defending yourselves on your core values. I’ve seen people not care about the issue and my gosh have I seen the comedians have a field day over the social media frenzy of a red cup.

Some may say that it should be talked about, I agree. No matter how little an opinion is, even if you are wrong, it is okay to talk about it. But what frustrated me most about the issue is that I wrote this opinion on Veterans Day and guess what I saw on my Facebook wall feed; I saw more posts, opinions and arguments for or against a red cup than posts about Veterans Day. 

For most college students, the United States of America has been at war for a large portion of life. And though I don’t support war, I do support the troops who are fighting. They are people just like me. Veterans should be remembered but after last week, it seems that society needs to change, “Remember the fallen soldier” to, “Remember the fallen cup.”

The one thing that this whole red cup thing with Starbucks reminded me is that as people, we need to get over the small things. Let it go. There is a fine line on some issues, even with cups. I wouldn’t want a child drinking from a cup that had porn on it. But, life is far too short to worry about the little things. Focus on the big issues. Stop murder, rape, gang violence, social injustices and the list goes on and on. But a cup, come on. And, I will say this, if you told me to not drink my coffee from Starbucks because it is in a red cup, I would look at you like you were insane because I survive on coffee and it is a permanent tattoo for me and the rest of my life.