It sounds completely unbelievable, but the hottest trend right now isn’t a meme or a TikTok dance; it’s a cup. The Stanley Cup — which, to be clear, is a tumbler, not the well-known hockey trophy — seems to be everyone’s must-have item. A little girl was bullied in school for not having one. In another incident that happened regarding this need-to-have item, Police recently arrested a woman for stealing $2,500 worth of Stanley cups. Clearly, this trend is turning into an obsession for some people, and it’s getting dangerous.
The lengths people will go to get their hands on the Stanley Cup aren’t surprising. With TikTok and other social media platforms creating and spreading trends more quickly than ever before, there’s always going to be some kind of popular item that everyone wants, and not everyone can have. If this feels familiar, it’s because we saw it happen with fast-food menu items, leggings, and skincare products, too. But honestly, it’s only a matter of time before we all think that we need to own some other product, we all get a severe case of FOMO, some people will take the trend way too far, and the cycle will repeat.
A year from now, Stanley Cups probably won’t matter, but no matter what, other, bigger things will matter for a lot longer. While people are stressing over getting the Stanley Cup, our climate is changing. We’re facing the impact of women losing their rights to their own bodies. There are wars across the world, and people are dying. And in the United States, we’re getting ready for a major election year. The decisions we make today about all of these issues have long-lasting effects and drastic consequences, and they deserve more of our focus. But right now, the Stanley Cup trend is distracting us all from solving the issues that will be affecting us for the rest of our lives.
Of course, the Stanley cups are pretty, and they’re a cute way to practice self-care. But if you’re looking for a Stanley Tumbler and are frustrated because none are available, remember that this particular problem is a small one in the grand scheme of things. Over the past several years, our need to have the latest trendy items has gotten worse and worse, and our world is deteriorating. We can learn to live with some knockoff Stanley cups instead of the “real” thing, but we can’t live in a world that’s too hot, too crowded, and too full of political unrest.
If you can’t get a Stanley Cup and feel extremely disappointed, try to evaluate what matters to you. The causes you care about are much more urgent than the need to buy the latest tumbler. Think about the changes you want to see and how you can make them happen. Chances are, you won’t need a Stanley Cup to take action and create real change.
And if you’re one of the “lucky ones” who has a Stanley Cup, remember that the trends that matter most are the ones that impact the world. The world is much better when we can each find small ways to improve it, and no one cares whether we hydrate with a Stanley Cup or a knockoff when we should be striving to change the world for the next generation.
Photo by Natilyn Photography on Unsplash
