TOLERANCE

Vasvi’s Verdict : 

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.

                                                                                                                                           – Voltaire

In today’s world a lot of issues have occurred because of the lack of such a simple trait as tolerance. Nowadays the word intolerance has become more common than the word tolerance. I agree that times change and that things do change with time; even in the past things had not been exemplary. There had been complications because of the differences created by intolerance. The world was never perfect the moment we realised one emotion of love we simultaneously did realise another emotion of jealousy or envy; but that does not mean that we let the dark parts of anything consume us. I know it’s clique but it is never too late….the world has never been perfect but that does not mean we give up on striving for the happy times. Perfection does not mean that everyone should be the same; our entire existence will lose its allure, diversity is a good thing not bad. The bad thing is creating barriers; rather we should be tolerant about each other’s opinions, beliefs, ideologies etc. and coexist. Perfection is when tolerance and harmony brings down the barriers between the diversities.

The key is just being autonomous and respecting others because melange is a positive thing it does not define superiority or inferiority, or right or wrong. We humans who call ourselves the rational beings should understand that this is the best thing about our existence because the rational thing is to be tolerant and find joy in coexisting. Tolerance can only be achieved when we come to a realization that nobody is perfect even ourselves and thus accepting everyone as they are; to thrive. We hear a lot about intolerance these days, why not bring about a positive change and hear more about how tolerance changed lives for the good rather than how intolerance destroyed lives and relationships. Tolerance in simple words is respect for diversity.

A tolerant man accepts social alterity without raising his eyebrows. In this modern world where individualism is an important thing; we all have our individual value system. And this value system should always contain the idea about tolerance because we all live together and as humans our most important quality is humanity and being tolerant is a huge part of it. A person is tolerant if he/she attaches symbolic value not only to his/her own characteristics but also to those that he/she does not have – but others have. This is respecting each other’s point of view.

Being tolerant also does not mean to be tolerant to someone’s inhumane or rude behavior. Here the word tolerance refers to an understanding where we recognize and honour diversity, it is accepting everyone as they are. Tolerance never means putting up with the bad things going around you in the society. Here, tolerance is being referred to as a generic term. It teaches you how to respect diversity and coexist happily; and is a virtue; but it does not mean to be suppressed by just tolerating the wrong doings (because everybody has a right to take a stand for their own rights). The context of the word tolerance used here was mainly referring to accepting diversities and coexisting happily with different cultures and opinions.

The human family is very diverse, with many different beliefs and cultures and ways of life. Many conflicts in our world are caused when people are intolerant of the ways that others see the world. Learning tolerance is an important cornerstone to creating a better world.

 – Robert Alan Silverstein