Unity Through Tolerance

Somewhere around the time of the revealing of the smart phone and the social media boom, people became more politically involved and expressive with their beliefs. People now had a personal platform and a simple means to express  their voice to the world. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, until the explosive social media battles begun. Friendships were ended, horrible insults were made and the worst part? No one is right about most of these things because most of the things we are fighting over are based on a matter of opinion, not fact.

Unfortunately, many people today tend to be polarized with their opinions and beliefs, leaving no room for outside opinions. Living in extremes will only lead to division. People will take sides and conflict is imminent. In reality, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. So, what are we missing? What is the solution? You see, at Wolf Moon Wellness we like to look for solutions rather than problems, but back to the question; how can we dissolve this division and unite together as a society?

Tolerance, something the world really seems to be lacking these days. Oxford defines tolerance as: The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. The great thing about tolerance is that it doesn’t mean you have to allow someone’s beliefs to override or infringe upon yours, it just means you are willing to keep an open mind to their beliefs while maintaining your own wonderful set of beliefs.

Why ‘tolerance’ and why not ‘acceptance’?

Tolerance is the ability or willingness to allow the existence, occurrence or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference.
Acceptance is the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered.
We may not want to receive or undertake others' views, opinions and beliefs but we can tolerate them. We can respect others' practices without infringing on their rights or forcing our own will on them.

I hear a lot of people talking about unity these days. “We need to unite!” I agree, we do need to unite. Unfortunately, I also see many of these same people attacking, criticizing, insulting and condemning others because they don’t share the same beliefs. This is not unity; this is not harmony, and this is not balance. If you truly want unity, then you need to have tolerance for other people’s beliefs. You need to understand that not all people are going to share the same beliefs as you and that’s okay. In order for there to be unity, mutual respect from all parties needs to be maintained. When there’s tolerance, there’s less blame and less pointing the finger. This leads to less conflict and eventually, to unity.

So, where do we draw the line with our tolerance? At what point does tolerance become inadequate and judgement becomes necessary? Well, for my family and I, it’s the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

John Laznovsky- “The Wolf of Wellness”