Coke or Pepsi?

To those who know me well, it's no secret that I'm a pop drinker. It's not unusual to see me meticulously typing my next script like an undead Beethoven on Ritalin while chugging down a soda. Now, I've tried nearly every pop out there, and the best one for me is Cherry Coke. It's just so perfect. I find myself meshing with it, find that it's become a part of me, a second skin. Someting that I've loved so much, it's irreplaceable and inseperable from me. The thing that bugs me, the question that gnaws at my brain like a termite: why do Coke drinkers hate Pepsi drinkers? The thing is, Pepsi drinkers find that same feeling in their bottle that you do in your Coke. I've tried Pepsi. It's not for me. I just don't get the same feeling cracking open a Pepsi bottle as I do a Cherry Coke bottle. I don't hate Pepsi, and I definately don't hate people who drink it. It's completly irrational to feel a tinge of hate toward someone because of the soda they drink, because I know they feel the same way about Pepsi as I do about Cherry Coke. They don't dislike or hate Coke either, or the people who drink it. It's just not for them.

And plus, you really don't have just Pepsi drinkers or just Coke drinkers. You have people who like Diet Coke, people who like Cherry Coke, people who drink Coke Zero, people who drink Vanilla Coke. Even though they all have the same base flavor, just a hint of plain Coke, they all have so many varied flavors that they really turn into different drinks altogether. Even though I recognize a hint of Cherry Coke taste in Diet Coke or plain Coke, I just can't drink it. So, really, we're not talking about two drinks here, we're talking about 2,000+. My Nana liked Coke, but put a little cherry in it, and it wasn't for her. I couldn't drink her plain Coke, either. It's the same with the thousands of flavors of Pepsi. One will be very differently flavored than the other. And that's not bad at all.

But where it gets really crazy is when Coke drinkers start not only just not caring for the Pepsi drink itself, they start disliking the drinkers because a select few do bad things. And then, suddenly, all Pepsi is INHERENTLY evil, even though it comes in many varied forms. Before you know it, all Pepsi drinkers are evil, heartless maniacs, even without doing a darn thing to hurt anyone. And then, all Coke drinkers who look like they maybe someday kinda might could sorta ever taste Pepsi are malicious killers. And then, before you could say "Holy Ovearzeality, Batman!" we're building walls to keep ALL PEOPLE who don't like Coke out of our nation. And then, in the general public's eye, whole countries are factories of evil just because a small slice of their populus likes Pepsi. You hear on the news about people jailed and waterboarded for liking Pepsi. And what do you here from Coke drinkers nationwide? "Good for them!". Suddenly, Pepsi drinkers are Dick Dastardly mustache twirling villians.

A small fraction of crazed Pepsi drinkers sometimes do bad things. But, in the Pepsi community, this is looked down upon, and is an exception to the rule. I'd argue that yes, extremist Pepsi drinkers did wrong things, but I'd argue they weren't even drinking soda in the first place. The last words of one Pepsi drinker, one who crashed a plane into a tower and killed hundreds? "Pepsi is great." The words of a sixteen year old girl who watched from her rooftop as thousands of her own people risked getting killed in order to cast their ballot and somehow change the life they'd been forced into by their loony goverment? "Pepsi is great."

Look up Melissa Huckabee. Columbine. The list goes on. Coke drinkers do bad things too.

These are people, Pepsi drinkers, who've experienced love, war, corrupt government, and longings for peace just as we have before.

I know a Pepsi drinker who sits two desks away from me in class. When my Cerebral Palsy prevented me from doing so, she wrote down my assignments without being asked. When I drop a paper or book, before my lips even form words, she picks it up.

So, I have a challange for you. Sit down at lunch with a Pepsi drinker, or a Mountain Dew drinker, or a Fresco drinker, and just talk. I think you'll learn something valuble.

Tomato