Tolerance Is Not Peaceful, But Morally Desirable

Homosexuality used to be a taboo. Speaking about it in public is offensive to many people, and also to their moral sensibility. It had led many religious people to believe that homosexuality is a sin. That was a hundred years ago, and you could still hear its echo. But, today, we recognize that homosexuality is not a sickness of the mind, and that every homosexual has as much right as any other heterosexual to live the lives they chose to live. Now, why did we finally acknowledge homosexuals? It was because homosexuals were not harming anyone. They were merely asserting themselves to be recognized as human beings. So, we have come to learn to live with them side by side. Killing in the name of God is one that no one should tolerate. Harming a human being is never justifiable, and I think that to link God and killing in his name is a perversion of His Message. It is unfortunate that some people take the written words in the literal sense. As I had said earlier, the Bible and other religious are stories that are fictitious but true - true in the existential sense. You can have your beliefs and customs. But, for as long as your beliefs and customs do not harm anyone, even one as young as a baby, then, I can live with the views that are different from those of mine. So that settles the issue, at least for most part of it. Let us now talk about situations in which beliefs and customs do not lead to physical harm, but nonetheless do feel as though harm has been done. Homosexuality was once an issue that brought some harm to close minded people but it never held any belief that would cause death to others. Let us, in other words, talk about those views that are not only so different from yours, but views that you simply, just simply cannot accept. You see it is so easy to talk about being tolerant of other views if you’re not involved, if you’re not in the center of it all. You may appear to be accepting. But that is not being tolerant; that is being indifferent. Tolerance is not indifference. Neither isindifference tolerance. The two have never been the same but only appear to be so. The two are confused, mistaken to be one for the other because you have not been involved. Your involvement tears them apart. So, you are involved in a discussion with someone whose views you cannot accept. How, then does tolerance come into play? Assuming that you agree with Voltaire who would defend the rights to freedom of speech even though he may vehemently disagree with him, what is tolerance? Remember you cannot get yourself to accept his views. You cannot, in your dreams, see his perspective. But, you ought to try. You can imagine - with a tremendous amount of effort - to see both the negative and positive aspects of a set of differing and opposing views. You may still not be able to give much justice to seeing the positive aspect. But, at least you tried. You may not be able to see things as he does. You try though, but you fail. And, you would think that tolerance failed. But, that’s missing the point of tolerance. Tolerance cannot be found in succeeding to see things as the other does, or accepting his views and beliefs. What then is tolerance? Tolerance is to be achieved in this trying, this effort to soften the hardness of your stance. It is standing vigil to the Opening to the views of the others. Tolerance is the effort of keeping the Open open, no matter how narrow it is. Tolerance therefore is that moral effort. And, it is that effort that you offer to the other that you makes you realize that you could be the one to whom the other, too, is making the effort to keep his Opening open. Because of that effort, the ‘sweating it out’ to stand vigil to this Opening, you will defend the other’s right to live. The Opening to the other is fragile. It can close any time. There is no letting down your guard. There is no peace in the struggle to keep it Open; in word, in being Tolerant.