If you’ve looked into the news at all this month, I’m sure you’ve seen headlines covering the most recent controversy being brought to light which is dividing our country in a very permanent way. Lines in the sand are being drawn, lives are being destroyed, and at this point, it may seem that there is no way back to a time of tolerance and peace. I am of course speaking of the Milk Madness controversy that has seeped into every aspect of American life.
My grandfather has been a dairy farmer for the majority of his lifetime. Whenever I would visit him, I would drink unpasteurized milk at meals, and I hold this practice very dear to my heart. Because of my heritage, I grew up not only having milk in my cereal and ice cream but also drinking glasses of milk during meals. Milk plays a very important role in my culture, passed down for generations. However, in the modern-day, there is an increasing sentiment against the glass of milk. I have personally been discriminated against because of the fact that I want healthy bones.
Those who remain devoted to the practice of solitary milk consumption have been entirely radicalized. There has been a noticeable increase in milk varieties in recent years. Almond, cashew, rice, oat, soy, heck even Lactaid has become much more prominent. As a result of the wide variety, milk drinkers have begun to identify themselves by the type that they drink. Naturally, there is competition between these similar parties, which has bred hatred amongst the milk community.
Reading the headlines about milk-crimes and whole-supremacy makes me long for a simpler time. A time when milk, in general, was endorsed by everyone. Not one company or brand over another, just a country united around a single dairy drink. There was a campaign that led many to love milk in my time, that needs to return in order for peace to return: Got Milk. The Got Milk campaign was a national treasure in its hay day. No one could truly call themselves a celebrity unless there existed a poster of them, in a random elementary school, dawning a milk mustache. This campaign didn’t promote any brand, and it did not divide people based on what they drank. It simply endorsed milk in America’s youth. This was a beautiful time when milk was milk, no matter what kind. It is now more than ever that our country needs to strive for unity on a dietary level. This is a wake-up call for the Got Milk campaign to rise once more and finally put an end to the radicalization of milk drinkers in our nation. May we all once again unite under the mustache.
