Recent Letters to the Editor have discussed the ability of the Notre Dame student body to rise up against injustice. I feel it is my civic duty to point out that recent events have proven we are not up to the challenge.
Last year, at the end of second semester, South Dining Hall took away our Cocoa Puffs, replacing them with the generic brand, but we did not speak out. Now, they have taken away even the generic version, and yet there is still no protest.
I must admit that I am ignorant as to the reason for this outrageous act. Perhaps a survey of the student body on cereal preferences was poorly run, and thus led to the incorrect result that Cocoa Puffs is not a favored brand. I do not know.
What I do know is that in American history, whenever evil dictators have tried to take away the things we hold most precious, there has been a revolutionary force present to provide resistance. The British were repelled when Alexander Hamilton unleashed his sword and drove them back to their gloomy island. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was slain by polio, which admittedly may not have been American.
Regardless, the point is that Americans will not stand and watch while their freedom is taken away. Now, we must follow this example. We must find the person or people in charge of cereal choices for South Dining Hall, and we shall fight them in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
For they have taken away our Cocoa Puffs. No longer can I find glory in a bowl after I fail a test. No longer can I wake up on a weekend morning to be greeted by the scent and taste of love, crunchiness and chocolate.
Instead, South Dining Hall would have me seek comfort in a bowl of Cookie Crisp. But I will not be sated by little cookies in milk. I demand my puffs of cocoa, and you should too. Rise, Notre Dame student body, and fight for what is right and good in this world.
Will Guappone
sophomore
Fisher Hall
Sept. 5
