Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.
Why? Why does this matter? Why do Christians care about the graphic design choices of
a coffee corporation? Why is this the battle that we want to fight? Oh good heavens, it doesn’t matter! This controversy isn’t even a controversy: it’s an embarrassment.
For those unfamiliar, an uproar from the evangelical community arose from Starbucks taking a minimalist approach to a design for their Christmas cups. Instead of sporting the usual geometric mess that Starbucks enjoys, gold triangles everywhere; you’d think they were sponsored by the Legend of Zelda, Starbucks opted to paint their cups plain red. For some reason, this ticked Christians off, making Starbucks receive accusations of being anti-
Christmas and anti-Christ.
I don’t think there’s anybody on this campus who thinks this is a legitimate concern. There are plenty of good reasons to be angry at Starbucks, and this is not one of them. Come on. How petty do Christians look if this is the sort of thing that we’re getting in a tizz about? How seriously are we meant to be taken if this is what we want to try to fight.
It’s a graphic design choice! They aren’t scribbling pentagrams on the side. Starbucks is just going with the flow of minimalism. Let them! If they want to make their cups look stupid, what’s that to us? What upsets me is that this is what we’re going to get mad about.
How many more problems do we have in the world? The Church, not Fundamentalists or Catholics or Evangelicals or Orthodox, but the body of Christ. How much does the Church have to deal with? While we’re quibbling over our lattes and red cups, people starve on the street. While we try to manipulate our baristas into wishing us a merry Christmas, our brothers and sisters are suffering all around us and beyond.
Stop.
Stop it now.
Stop being upset about graphic design. Stop worrying about the price of gas. Stop whining about the food in the cafeteria. Because, listen to me; we’ve got bigger problems. Be grateful that you can eat. Be thankful that you have a car. Start worrying about the fact that there are currently around 3 million children in abusive homes right now.
Come on. We can do
better than this. Let us honor Christ by our motivations.
Cross-Meredith is a sophomore majoring in English. He can be reached at Cross-MeredithS@jbu.edu.