Intolerance: The End of Goodwill
Why it’s time to change, for the love and sake of humanity.
People often take pride in their ability to defend themselves and go all out to put the world to rights. They find all kinds of things to rage against; injustice, sexism, racism, cruelty, deception, right down to the next door neighbour’s tree, dumpster size or where they park their car.
The trouble is, some people don’t think about how they go about resolving problems and this is often where new and bigger trouble starts. They also don’t consider if the issue is actually worth fighting for in the first place. Not all battles are equal.
‘One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels’ — Woodrow Wilson
Bad Behaviour
Some intolerant people are only too willing to bully or frighten someone into complying with their wishes. As long as they can get what they want, exactly when they want it, they’re good. Just like in the school playground.
But imagine if most people behaved like this — like selfish big babies. How pleasant, peaceful and civilized would everyday life be? What would the long term outlook be, for good human relationships?
Can we be happy living in a world of more blustery, me-first aggressors and people not capable of intelligent, compassionate, calm and rational thinking?
Intolerance — A Growing Monster of Mankind
I believe, this ugly behaviour has become part of a national and global problem that now needs to be consciously addressed by us all. Parents need to show and teach tolerance to their children, and schools should have a mandatory class that teaches children the importance and benefits of tolerance towards other kinds of people, their beliefs and situations in life. If people want to live in a safe, friendly and civilized society, it is up to us to personally contribute towards that end, by being kind, resolute and peaceful role models for each other. After all, people are more influenced by what they see and experience in their environment, rather than by ideas.
“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn’t measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It’s not winning battles that makes you happy, but it’s how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.” ― C. JoyBell C.
Why can’t everybody live together?
Because there is always a sector of society, a cruel and inhumane element of people, that choose not to tolerate the differences in others, their beliefs, and their lives. They think their ingrained, rigid and selfishly held beliefs, are the only ones that matter in the world. How ignorant, arrogant, life-limiting and narrow-minded is that?
There is no sign of compassion, kindness, fairness or openness towards their fellow men and these people cause untold misery to others whenever they step off their soapboxes and into the unknown.
What would help us?
Instead of behaving intolerantly and negatively towards others, wouldn’t it be far more wise, satisfying and enjoyable if we all decided to be more curious about other people and interested in their differences? Maybe this way, we could all have a rich variety of friends around the globe, and a lot more world peace.
After all, we can decide to be more tolerant, kind and open to other people, at any moment, whenever we like. It is simply a matter of choice.
Daily Irritations
There may be a whole host of daily issues that irritate us, but the problem lies in how we think about and handle them. If we want something to change, we have to understand what could realistically bring about the result we want, and what we can do to encourage this (if anything), without antagonizing other people or upsetting their lives in the process.
If other people are involved in our problem, we do have to consider their wishes, whether we like it or not, if we want to live in peace and have enjoyable and stable relationships.
‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ — (Matthew 7:12)
Intolerant people aren’t victims
If it’s not possible to get what we want, we don’t need to have tantrums, insult or harm other people, or do criminal damage. We just have to accept it. Not because our opinions don’t matter or we should become pushovers, but because it’s part of being a mature human being; understanding when things are outside of our control and being wise enough to know when to quit.
In my experience, the smartest people try to make the best of any situation they find themselves in, whether they like it or not.
‘Just because life isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean it isn’t good’ — (E. Gilbert)
A Misplaced Sense of Entitlement
Some intolerant people believe that it is their human right to have certain things in life, no matter what. For instance, they believe it is their right to have a baby, a family, etc. They simply will not entertain that the world was not designed for their benefit or to revolve around their own selfish needs and wants and that there are always alternative ways of enjoying life.
However, I believe, life doesn’t owe anyone anything — ever, and if we operate from this viewpoint, everything good that comes through our lives and personal creativity, is a privilege, and something we can be eternally grateful for.
Feeling Deprived
Some people think that the cards they’ve been dealt in life are so bad that they can’t possibly see why they should tolerate any of them. This sounds like a fair point until you understand that there’s always someone worse off than yourself that also tolerates plenty of things they abhor and can’t control, while still appreciating the good aspects of life. They don’t indulge in self-pity or visit frustration and violence on other people either.
The importance of tolerance in daily life
For people that don’t believe in the importance of tolerance, or that it’s a good behaviour you can choose to adopt, here’s a list of random things that decent, admirable people have learned to tolerate every day:-
- Living in relative, daily poverty; having to count every penny for food, being sure not to overspend.
- Religious, racial and sexual prejudice.
- Being underpaid and undervalued because of skin color.
- Having no friends or family.
- Being blind or unable to speak or hear.
- Living with long term depression or other mental illness.
- Caring for a terminally-ill child.
- Living with a brain injury; not being able to communicate feelings or distress.
- Living with a broken heart; not knowing if you’ll ever be happy again.
- Having serious physical ill-health; having to permanently depend on someone else and never be able to enjoy your own body, or have a sex life.
- Living in a war zone.
The list above is not exhaustive, but for sure, tolerance is one of the major components of these people’s lives. Without it, their existence would be even more difficult to bear.
Intolerant people think they are more important than others
This is another illusion of intolerant people. They don’t appreciate the reality that nobody is more important than anyone else.
These are often the people who drive too fast, toot other drivers for no good reason and sound off at shopkeepers who take too long giving them change, and generally make other people feel miserable and stressed.
Respect must be for everyone
If we want people to respect, listen to and take us seriously, it’s best if we don’t jump up and down, thrash around and get in people’s faces with our bad attitudes. It’s nobody’s fault but our own, if we’re not prepared to control ourselves and show other people good manners, understanding and patience.
Most decent people just want to live their life in peace, for as long as possible. There are enough problems in the world without intolerance adding it’s very ugly face to the mix.
I hope the message of this story gets through.
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© America Zed. Other writing by America Zed.