I have been considering a word lately that is freely tossed around and extolled upon but I find it a difficult concept in its purest sense. It is tolerance. I’ve read the dictionary meaning and read tons of different quotes on the word but the difficulty I seem to have is understanding the pure meaning. It seems to hold a very subjective meaning in so many cases.
Just ask yourself this simple question: Are you tolerant? I think many people would quickly say yes. Then they would think about their answer and say sometimes. Dig deeper. Are you tolerant of a person’s weaknesses? Wait now, what would you consider a weakness? Another very subjective thing. Do you Tolerate children misbehaving? Most people’s answer would be yes….to a point. What is that point? Clearly if you watch children in public it’s different in almost every case. Some parent(s) seem to allow most anything while others keep a very tight reign. Again, we all tolerate things on a different level.
Now here it is, the most used, if not overused, instance of the word tolerance….political tolerance. Let’s face it, the left accuses the right of intolerance and the right accuses the left of the same. Who is right? Are they both right? ( sorry, correct) If you tolerate a certain perspective, does that mean you condone it? I should think not. To tolerate something in my eyes means to give freedom to the person or thing or principle to be able to express themselves without fear of retribution. That does not mean freedom of consequences though. Even though you tolerate something does not mean you erase your set of morals. It does not mean you should be unable to express an opinion about what you think is right or wrong otherwise why even have a moral compass?
The one aspect of the word tolerance that bothers me most is if I say I am tolerant of someone, it makes me sound as if I think I am superior. The fact is I consider the word accepting much better. It again does not mean I condone a particular behavior but it does mean I accept the person’s right to behave the way they deem fit and any consequences will come later and very likely not by me.
I guess this word has become a bit of a sore spot for me because the very people that seem to espouse the term tolerance the most only want us to condone a certain behavior and if we do not or cannot then they deem us intolerant. So you see, it seems to be a vicious circle that we will never solve. I think it comes down to something I’ve already said tolerance is acceptance but does not imply agreement.
So there you have it. I had to get this off my chest. If you’ve been able to tolerate this entry feel free to give me your thoughts. This is a concept I continually wrestle with so any help would be gladly accepted!
