Tolerance. We all should have it.  However I throw in a word of caution here, because I do believe that there are times when we shouldn’t be tolerant!

What is tolerance? Well according to Google:  it is the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.

Now, this is where I think that we should be tolerant …. Well to a degree.

Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t mean that they are necessarily wrong. 

We should be tolerant towards people’s religious beliefs, political beliefs, etc. 

After all, not everyone is going to think the same way and the world would be pretty bloody boring if we all did think the same!

However, as mentioned I do draw the line at being tolerant when it comes to personal safety, and attitudes / actions that are just plain wrong!

Here are some instances where I think we should NOT be showing tolerance:-

  • When your partner or anyone else for that matter is being abusive towards you
  • When you see someone treating others badly
  • When you witness a crime
  • When you see a child being abused
  • When you are in conversation with someone and they are being disrespectful.

That’s just a few and I’m sure you can think of more.

So, I don’t care if you’re spiritual and all ‘love and light’ that doesn’t mean you don’t call people out for their bad behaviour.  It also doesn’t mean that you just put up with being treated like shit. 

I also don’t like it when people call others to be more ‘tolerant’.  Again, depending on the circumstances, why should they?

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you refuse to put up with someone else’s shit, have you noticed that they turn things around to make you the bad person? You know, you don’t have a sense of humour, or if you ‘loved’ me you’d have me back.

Tolerance is in there with setting boundaries.  When you set boundaries, you know what you will and won’t put up with.  Tolerance is the same thing. 

Having tolerance and not having it are your boundaries, they are your code of conduct that you’re going to be living by.  Don’t drag yourself down to someone else’s level just to make them happy. 

If you’re somewhere and you’re afraid to speak up, ask yourself why you’re tolerating that happening?  Whether to you or someone else. 

However, as mentioned previously, just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t mean you have to wipe them off the face of the earth.  If someone believes the world is flat, are they actually doing any harm?  If they don’t agree with your political / religious views, does that really matter?

This is where tolerance is key. 

We are not here to make everyone agree with us.  It’s actually OK to just agree to disagree.  People are allowed to have a different opinion to you.  People are not allowed to cause other people intentional pain or try and make others hate like they hate. 

Tolerance is how we generally get along.  My girlfriend is still religious, that’s OK, and she wouldn’t believe in clairvoyants, and that’s OK too.  We still catch-up and have a coffee / lunch and chat about us and our families – we just don’t discuss those things.  Nor do either of us try and force the other to see and agree with our point of view.

That’s how everyone gets along.  Know your boundaries but have tolerance for others beliefs.

Katrina-Jane