Thoughts on Tea & American Patriots

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my tea supply needed to be restocked. I typically have grabbed boxes of tea when sales pop up, but since I received an infuser several months ago, I have been letting my tea bag supply decrease, so that I would have a good reason to purchase loose leaf tea. Well, I was finally at that point, so excitedly, I asked for recommendations of online stores and agonized over what kinds of tea to buy. I placed my order, and then waited for the tea to arrive. 



As I dreamed of the day when I would sip my piping hot cup of Lavender Earl Grey tea, I would obsessively hop on the website to see just where in the country my box was. No joke, for the past week, I checked the tracking number at least twice a day. When I perused my e-mail this morning and saw that, at 4:37 a.m., my order was "out for delivery," I was sufficiently thrilled. Today is the day! A few hours passed by as I waited for the mail to come. Finally, I eagerly strapped my son to my back (so that my arms would be entirely free to carry my box of tea, of course!) and floated outside to the mailbox. O glorious, heavenly tea. What a wonderful way to brighten a rather dreary-looking Wednesday afternoon. 

I don't think Peter understood just how epic this moment was.

And I started thinking about the colonists-like all the people who, in response to the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, stopped drinking British tea. I thought about the Sons of Liberty, who in 1773, organized the Boston Tea Party. Many of these people, I'm sure, loved tea. Yet, because of their principles and the message that they were upholding, they stopped drinking tea, and some individuals dumped 340 chests in the harbor. These people were willing to make sacrifices-boycotting a beloved drink out of principle? That's intense, people. 

My poor coffee beans are not going to get much attention in the near future.

Maybe we aren't faced with the situation that the colonists were. Still, we can sure learn a thing or two from them. Like the patriots, are we willing to make sacrifices for our beliefs? Are we willing to sacrifice comforts out of principle?