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Tolerance
TOLERANCE
But is the situation really hopeless? The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians was not created by an impersonal force of nature. It was created by the conflicting ideas of different human beings and is kept alive by current generations on both sides who have not figured out how to get along.
TOLERANCE
Today’s bullies are tomorrow’s bigots, and today’s victims of bullies need a hand to help reclaim their lives, their confidence and their potential.
TOLERANCE
Beginning in 1999, Gilley wrote hundreds of letters to, as he puts it, “everybody,” ultimately getting the attention and interest of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Nobel Peace Prize winner Óscar Arias and United Nations Secretary General Kofi A. Annan. Within two years, the first United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21, 2001, was submitted to the General Assembly by Costa Rica and the British government with 54 cosponsors, and unanimously adopted by the 189 member nations.
TOLERANCE
When Pope Francis talks, 1.3 billion people listen. Thus, it is significant that on his recent trip to Hungary, the Pope called for an embrace of religious diversity.
TOLERANCE
130 years ago this month, a slave rebellion of unparalleled persistence began which resulted in the creation of the only nation ever to be founded and governed by former slaves and captives. That new nation, Haiti, was spawned in the blood of slaves, brought on by the cruelty and torture of their masters and by the unrelenting defiance of the subjugated population of the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola after over a century and a half of callous oppression to the point of sadism.
TOLERANCE
But what about the person who gives his or her life willingly, for total strangers? How do you express the proper level of admiration and gratitude to those who have lost their lives in service to others through their humanitarian work?
TOLERANCE
How many of us take care to verify the rumors we hear by making our own observations? Whether the source is trusted, questionable or entirely unreliable, are we keeping a watchful eye on how we are influenced by that source’s “information” or are we letting our opinions, actions and lives get knocked around by others like a ball in a pinball machine?
TOLERANCE
If I were a traditional journalist, I would not interview Bishop Jon Fish of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He makes no accusations, nurses no grudges, minimizes conflicts, ignores those who denigrate his faith, and works to spread understanding and inclusion. He’s a “glass half full” kind of guy, and a journalist or an editor looking for a quick piece of clickbait or a mean-spirited comment for “controversy” would come up empty.
TOLERANCE
The world offers much to be indifferent about—violence, hatred, bias, discrimination, lies and death. At 68 it would be easy to snuggle up to that indifference by just working my garden, taking out the trash and muttering platitudes at my neighbors.
TOLERANCE
Some of the people I most admire are those who are devout in their personal faith but also curious and generous in their interest to learn about others who may have a different one.
