Pledge of Allegiance

There's never been much competition between Coke and Pepsi for me. Dr. Pepper gives it a run for its money, but can never completely over-take it. You know how sometimes you go in to a restaurant and order a Coke, and the lady says, "Is Pepsi ok?" and you're like, "No," and hope that they have Dr. Pepper? Yeah, I'm sure everyone knows that feeling.
We went to the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta. Really, the museum is a collection of every Coke advertisement that has ever been created, and there are bits of history sprinkled throughout, mostly just to explain the changes in the propaganda. By the time we got through the second room I'd already been completely convinced that Coca-Cola was the best product ever invented. As I became further indoctrinated by the rest of the museum, I started to make plans to show my newly increased loyalty to Coca-Cola. I didn't think I'd ever be able to drink the once-beloved Dr. Pepper again. I'd use Coke on my breakfast cereal. Eventually I'd phase out water, too (even though that could lead to the painful state where my urine would be carbonated).
There is a tasting room at the end of the self-guided tour of the museum. They have almost every variety of drink that Coke makes, all available to try for free. My first cup of Coca-Cola Classic was oral heaven. I'm sure that it tasted only as good as every other Coke I've ever had, but I doubt it had ever been received with such an emotional attachment. I moved on through all of the varieties of diets and caffeine-frees, and then on the other Coke drinks, like Barq's and Sprite. By this fifth marginal cup of soda, I'd lost the initial satisfaction, but there were other drinks to try: Tab, Pibb, Poweraide, Minute Maid, and every other aid you could think of were there to be tested. I couldn't let the opportunity pass by, so I tried them all. By the time I was finished, I'd begun to feel disgusted towards soda and I didn't want any more for quite a while. Then I saw the international room.
A whole second tasting room, this one with varieties of drinks that were available in other countries, totaling more than the varieties of the first room. I felt obligated, pushed on my ingrained love of the Coca-Cola company, and so I tried all of these, too. I'd already had more soda than I could still be enjoying, but it didn't help matters that Coca-Cola has an obvious dislike of foreign countries. I mean, why else would they force such horrible flavors on them? They must have run out of fruit-based flavors, because they had Fanta flavored like seeds and nuts and what must have been some kind of tree bark. The Italian brand (I think it was called "Beverly") was so bitter that I had to use the lychee nuts to wash the flavor out of my mouth.
When we left the museum I felt so sick to my stomach that I didn't think I could ever drink anything ever again. After a few hours I realized I was wrong and I saw that I needed a Coke, but I drank water for the rest of the day, so I'd say that after all was said and done, the propaganda overload and its back-fire cancelled each other out, and I don't think that any permanent damage was done. Only time will tell if the tide was changed in the battle between Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper. Maybe next time that a restaurant serves Pepsi I'll just leave and go eat somewhere else.