Sitting at the kitchen table after breakfast, a resident
latched onto our small, apple basket filled with individually wrapped tea bags.
She fanned them out across the table, lining them up like a train wreck. Then
she opened three Tetley bags and dropped papers and tea in a pile. I watched
her focused attention as I stood at the counter stirring boiling water into the
strawberry flavored gelatin. Our caregiver came into the kitchen, saw the tea
upheaval and rushed to rescue and re-create order.
The
question of the day is this: what does it matter?
A few tea bags are not a great expense.
The wood
table and ceramic tile floor are easily swept.
Who says
tea bags can only be used to brew tea?
If this
activity is removed, with what will we replace it?
I think the
issue is that a common object was used in an uncommon way. We are accustomed to
seeing tea bags carefully removed from the paper wrapping and dropped into a cup
in preparation for hot water. The paper is then crumbled and neatly disposed
of.
We all have
our preconceptions about appropriate and inappropriate, positions that we lean
into rather than carefully evaluate. These positions encourage us to criticize when
someone acts differently than we would. We don’t know the story behind someone’s
choices; we just know it is not what we would choose.
Does it
matter? Does it cause consequences of irreparable damage? Do our grumbles emanate
from a justifiable, moral base? Or is it just different?
By the by,
the apple basket was named such because two small wooden, red apples each dangle
from an end of short, hemp twine wrapped around a leather handle. And it’s the
right size for individual tea bags. Now that I think of it, the Pennsylvania manufacturer does bill it as a tea basket. But we could name it something completely different. If we
all agreed, would it matter?
