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Tomorrow is the final day of my week without straws, but first, let me tell you about today.

Today was a long day. Like I discussed in a previous entry, I have a bad habit of ignoring my alarms to wake up in the morning. Today was definitely one of those days.

I woke up late for class and without time to brew the dark coffee my mind craved. On my 30 minute drive to class, I drove past not one, but two coffee drive throughs! My willpower was tempted and I have to admit: it wavered.

I pulled into that parking lot and had to park and convince myself my exhausted eyes didn’t require iced coffee with a straw. In an ever-grumbly mood, I restarted my car and left the drive-thru without my ideal caffeinated beverage. It would have been different if I had a portable coffee tumbler. But, alas, I just had my freshly refilled reusable water bottle in my car. I couldn’t bring myself to dump the water out; it seemed like such a waste and we need water to live anyways.

The rest of today, I was a walking cloud of college-induced stress. In between classes, I really wanted to drive to the local drive-thru and fill my emotional void with iced coffee, but while walking to my car, I noticed the plethora of plastic litter strewn about NIU’s campus.

There were straws, cups, plastic bags and other discarded disposables ruining the academic landscape. What really broke my heart though was the goose tried to pick up a plastic straw and eat it. Usually the over territorial geese bother me, but in that moment I felt guilty. On a campus that these geese have made their seasonal home, humanity is littering it with laziness. It’s not worth strangling a goose, when recycling and trash bins are so accessible.

Seeing the goose motivated me to power through the coffee cravings until I could eventually brew my own cup; no straw needed.

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