#Tolerance February 11

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I hope you have some TOLERANCE for me sharing a few thoughts on TOLERANCE.

How about filling in the blank to the following sentence.

I am not going to TOLERATE________________________ anymore.

You don’t have to wait long and you can find voices around you that will help you fill in the blank with issues and people. Waiting in line, availability of a vaccine, people who refuse to wear a mask, poor customer service, a boss, a co-worker, the President, the former President, Congress, racism, sexism, illegal immigration, hate speech, and all other sorts of opinions.

The lack of tolerance is an interesting dilemma. Change often occurs when something becomes intolerable. When someone is intolerant to change nothing happens except they dig in their heels and cling to their viewpoint.

I am not cerebral enough to tell anyone all the nuances of living in a society without tolerance. I do believe without tolerance we cannot cross over to acceptance. Acceptance is the place where we grow.

The best way I know is to think about TOLERANCE is to read the words of others. Here are some quotes from others.

“Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.” Timothy Keller

The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God’s image in someone who is not in my image, who language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing him to remake me in his.” –Jonathan Sacks

“A man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all the doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false.” –Benjamin Franklin

“If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves.” –Thomas Paine

“In recent decades we have emphasized the value of teaching people ‘tolerance.’ Tolerance is not only inadequate, it is a negative concept which only alienates society further. Learning to tolerate absolves people of the responsibility of learning to understand different people, accept and appreciate their differences, and progress towards respecting them for who and what they are. It is only when we build acceptance between people that we will rid ourselves of the scourge of prejudice and liberate ourselves from violence.” –Arun Gandhi

Each one of these thoughts made me realize I still have much work to do in learning acceptance.