“....The word tolerance just doesn’t seem appropriate. No one wants to be “tolerated.” I know I sure don’t. People want and deserve something better. Tolerating your neighbors is quite different from “loving your neighbors.”
Tolerance doesn’t quite seem to be an actual virtue. There’s something begrudging about it, something condescending, forbearing; there is a sense of having to endure a person or a situation that is otherwise personally unacceptable. “I really shouldn’t put up with this, so I’ll just have to tolerate it!”
Tolerance implies conditionality. There is a huge difference between tolerating and accepting. There’s embracing, affirming, celebrating, honoring or simply loving something or someone. People…might do well to consider all the things, beliefs, actions or people they simply “tolerate,” and then figure out how to love them unconditionally.” (Tribune Clergy Corner 2/23/08 by Rev. John Herman – Tempe, AZ)
Good words to ponder and put into action....
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