Tolerance is a hot button topic, and my track record with those is touch and go, so I apologize in advance if I offend.

Tolerance to my view is not some touchy, feely, love everybody practice. I think that’s why, despite all the popular rhetoric about tolerance, we actually have very little of it. Of course, there is also the counter camp (as there always is), who bemoan the insistence on political correctness. These two parties fuel each other’s fire to the point that most reasonable people don’t want to have a part in either philosophy, and then feel guilty because they know there is truth in the value of tolerance. They recognize we do indeed need it.

The anti-PC camp is right. There being the risk of censure for having an unpopular opinion is not tolerance. So yes, when they call that hypocrisy, they are right. But on the other side, callous attitudes put forth as freedom of speech is hypocrisy also. If you espouse a view that gives people reason to think you embrace hatred of a specific group, that is reason for concern as well.

Or those who say “I was just having fun.” They would not want someone to have fun at their expense. They would be just as angry at someone joking about how they are, as one of the “protected” groups is angry at being made fun of. If you need one group’s weakness to give you a premise for your humour, it’s fair to say that it’s you who display a mental deficit, not the people whose behaviour you consider laughable.

There are some simple facts that we all share. Simple things that are true no matter what your personal background or intellectual insights. This recognition of the common ground is actual tolerance. The “retard” you might find laughable needs the same things to survive as you do. Sometimes the simple-minded person sees things much more clearly than the “clever” individual.

This reminds me of a story. There was a semi that was stuck behind a low clearance underpass on a long stretch of road with no sidetracks anywhere near by. They could do nothing to get this huge vehicle moved or out of the way. They even were considering if they could get a crane lift in to lift it one piece at a time over the underpass. This took hours, but it ended in a surprising way. One of the cars behind the truck had a young child in it. They and their parent came up to see what was wrong, as they really needed to get home. The parent saw the mess and just got very frustrated as their vehicle was totally blocked in. But the child just took a moment and looked at the situation, seemed very interested in all this hubbub, and said, “Why don’t you just let some air out of the tires?” Simple child like thought. It’s exactly what they did, and could have done from the start if they were not so busy being clever.

Any person or group has its place, and is worthy of respect. Any person, no matter how seemingly confused, can be your teacher. This realization is what is meant by tolerance. Everyone has a place and no single view is privileged. If the world is no respecter of any person or groups philosophy, how can we reasonably be?

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~