As part of my studies, we had to write a final essay up for discussion on the opportunity for a tea presentation to overcome intolerance. I would like to share with you the result of this essay. The specific question was:
“In a world where the intolerance of the cultural values and practices of others leads to discrimination and mass murder, a creative and culturally sensitive tea presentation is an opportunity to promote the art and taste of tea, as well as nurture a peaceful environment of respect and appreciation of many cultures.”
We all come from different backgrounds. We live in different countries around the world. We went through different childhoods, different cultural experiences, which all have left their mark on the windshield on how we perceive the world.
The windshield of some people is so tainted and closed that it leads them to see people how they want them to see, with intolerance and discrimination. It leads them to engage in damaging acts and even worse, convince other people to follow their destructive path.
And then there is tea. Tea has the remarkable power to wipe off these stains on our windshield and makes us see clearly, focus and appreciate the world and its beauty by living in peace and harmony.
Many of us, passionate about tea, have fallen in love with the way how tea brings us together in the real world, how it slows down time, how it sparks kindness and harmony and how it allows people to connect to each other in an genuine way, by appreciating nature and one of nature’s most magical products.
We, the already converted, love to share our thoughts about different teas, about the role of tea in our lives and the new adventures it leads us to. We take tea as an entry gate to learn more about cultures and locations. Tea is the beacon light that guides us to learn about ancient traditions and masters who are ready to share their wisdom with us in order to enrich the world.
Tea allows us to connect to the elements of nature that surround us: Earth, Water, Wind and Fire. It is this magic we can convey to other people, how a freshly plucked tea leaf processed into tea 
gives back to us in form of an amazing brew.
Tea is as complex and different as we are. We all have different tastes but tea has a way to comfort us and with an abandon variety of types finding exactly what we like. A great tasting tea pleases the palate and leads to happiness and comfort. Let us take tea to those who need comfort and help to wipe off the stains on their windshield. A person who experiences great taste and comfort is less likely to show intolerance and hate.
In one of the classes we learned about the intelligence of the tea plant. It made us humans fall in love with this magical drink so that we can spread the plant around the world. And it will be tea which will be smart again by helping us to overcome our hate, our anger, our cultural intolerance by showing us the peace and the harmony we will experience when we will drink a good cup of tea. Tea will allow us to share and build bridges across cultures and focus on what is important, kindness, peace and harmony.
We have the opportunity to use tea as an entry point in our discussion. If we use our knowledge about tea and design our presentation in a way that it will ignite interest in people learning more about the origin and the culture of the country were the tea comes from, we will have achieved a lot.
Let us, we people passionate about tea , be the ambassadors to carry this message around the world and reach out to our friends, family , customers and utilize the beauty of tea in the fight against hate, anger and violence. We can reach out to people and bring them closer to cultures by presenting them with some of the best these genuine masters around the world have to offer: tea.