When it comes to speaking out against discrimination, racism or prejudice, it is not uncommon to hear calls for tolerance. In my post of last week, I recognized the International Day for Tolerance and asked that we work to up our level of tolerance.
But, frankly, to me, this sounds like a bar too low, almost too easy.
Per the definition (below), one gets a sense that it’s more about endurance or grinning and bearing it.
tol·er·ate
VERB
allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference: "a regime unwilling to tolerate dissent" synonyms: allow · permit · authorize · sanction · condone · indulge · agree to · accede to · approve of · endure · put up with · bear · take · stand · support · submit to ·
accept or endure (someone or something unpleasant or disliked) with forbearance: "How was it that she could tolerate such noise?" synonyms: consume · take · stomach · digest · eat · receive · be subjected to · withstand subjection to · be treated with
Personally, I’d rather we thought about this matter more in terms of a respect for others, an openness and receptivity to differences, without related harm or malicious intent.
In actual fact, we should be thinking of tolerance only as a starting point with lots of room for improvement.
So let’s strive to do better. Be better. We will all benefit in the end.
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