TheSmithViewpoint

A little Tea and Sympathy

AJ and I have been trying to meet up for coffee for months now. He and I have been very close friends since right around 1997, but ironically, we haven't seen each other face to face for over a year. Still, we talk almost every day by email, and through Blogger.

Despite our many attempts to segue a rendezvous, many obstacles have prevented such. But the conversations about trying to finally meet are an interesting subject in itself, containing the use of repeated terms that one would eventually stop to ask, "What the hell are we talking about?"

One such term that we use almost every time: Tea and Sympathy. Again, the question is asked, "What the hell are we talking about?" Simply to satisfy my own curiosity, as well as that of yours, I mandated a task to myself to find the answer to that question. I'd like to invite you to take a journey with me, to explore...

Tea and Sympathy

One definition I found describes the term to mean "a caring and hospitable behavior towards a troubled person." I found this definition satisfactory, since, from the first time I heard the term, it reflects the general perception I had of the meaning. But, just as all terms like this one, it must have originated somewhere. Like many things interesting, the term was born in the fifties.

1956 saw the debut of the film Tea and Sympathy written by Robert Anderson. In Anderson's story, seventeen-year-old Tom Lee is ridiculed and labeled a “sister-boy” by his schoolmates, as well as the headmaster of his school, Bill Reynolds, for his lack of interest in the common “manly” recreational pursuits. When the wife of the headmaster, Laura, sees his maltreatment, she tries to help Tom find himself.

Robert Anderson’s story, however, goes back even further. It premiered as a Broadway play in 1953 and was a huge hit critically and commercially, running over 700 performances. Most of the actors in the play were hired by MGM to star in the film as well. The actors were so well-experienced in the roles of their characters that the director (of the film) felt no need to make any changes.

The defining moment in the story comes when Laura Reynolds also tries to help her husband learn to treat boys like Tom with more empathy and respect. Quoth she, “All you’re supposed to do is every once in a while give the boys a little tea and sympathy.” This, of course, evolved into the title of the story, which evolved to a definable term that is still used today.

On September 16, 1997, the Christian rock band Jars of Clay released their sophomore album Much Afraid. The third track on the album was titled “Tea and Sympathy.” You can read the lyrics to that song here.

Article to be completed…

posted by Smith @ 10/23/2005 02:18:00 PM