By Estefania Zavala

 

Passion is not something normally associated with breakfast foods. When you think of your cinnamon raisin bagel, you do not usually think of beautiful poetry. When you hastily guzzle your coffee on the way to class, you do not stop to ponder its magnificence.

 

Or maybe you do—I certainly enjoy breakfast way more than I should. Every single type of breakfast foods is, in its own way, perfect to me. Omelets. The pancake vs. waffle debate. Even plain old oatmeal. Why is this? Well, I was doing some introspection and, true to form, I was reminded of the poem by E.E Cummings entitled “[as freedom is a breakfast food].” As the title may imply, it’s a sort of ode to breakfast foods and other simple things in life. It was written during the Great Depression, a time when even those smallest of joys were pretty scarce. The poem is about having “enough” and treasuring the tiny details amidst a sea of seemingly endless troubles. It’s about adding up the small good things (like the first bite of food after a night of frantic studying) and making them much more important than all of the negative things in your life.

 

Maybe midterms aren’t quite on the level of the Great Depression but when I think of the three papers I have to write this weekend, I do feel pretty morose. So when I was drinking some milk this morning, I tried to stop mentally rewriting a paper and instead tried to just focus on my toast. It was surprisingly very soothing.

 

So, whether you had strawberry Pop-tarts or a fancy latte, I encourage you to really take the time to savor your breakfast. Let whatever is stressing you out about your day seem insignificant compared to the newfound magnitude of your breakfast.