The Significance of Tolerance

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TOLERANCE The world’s prime need today is tolerance and acceptance of others. One of the stark realities of life is that divergence of views exists between human beings, which impinges at all levels. Differences are bound to exist everywhere, whether at the level of a family or a society, a community or a country. Now, the question is how unity can be promoted, or harmony brought about in the face of human differences. Some people hold that removing all differences is indispensable for bringing about unity among people. However, this view is untenable, as it is not practicable. You may not like the thorns accompanying the roses, but you cannot pluck out all the thorns and destroy them completely, for if you pluck one thorn out, another will grow in its place. Even if you run a bulldozer over all the rosebushes, new plants will grow in their place, bearing roses bound to be accompanied by thorns. Given this, roses can only be had by tolerating thorns’ existence. Similarly, a peaceful society can be created only by accepting differences and diversities. In this world, unity is achievable only by learning to unite despite disagreements rather than insisting on unity without differences because the total eradication of differences is an impossibility. Therefore, a major secret to attaining peace in life is tolerance and acceptance of differences. There is nothing wrong with diversity in opinions, beliefs, and ways of life. On the contrary, it is a positive quality that offers many advantages, much like the beauty of a garden