The mouse was passing through an abysmally dark forest, struck a sleeping lion. The lion woke up to his gnawing. Having been disturbed by his awkwardness the lion pretended to kill him. It was only then, the Mouse piteously entreated, asking: “If you spare my life, I would ensure to repay your kindness.” The lion sniggered and ridiculed of getting helped by a little mouse but even then he let him go. It happened shortly after a group of hunters, cleverly netted the lion that could hardly be untied. Perhaps it was turned out to be the day the mouse had to repay. On recognizing the troubled lion, came forth -gnawed the rope with his teeth, and set him free. It was surprising for lion to find little mouse weak enough to help him out of trouble –had indeed rescued him. This holistically applies to our society where people get to discriminate on every ground a fellow; be it race, color, religions, religion ethnicity etc. Entangled among bunch of discriminating features have pulled the world to the brink of what we witness today.
The world has not been set to one pattern, nor have men been shaped in a single mould. Difference, in environment or conditions of life, causes difference in temperament and opinion. Historical evolution has led to diversities in outlook. Each distinctive outlook has its own background. A cultured person takes these into account, makes allowance for them and is ready to make concessions and compromise. Without this broad-mindedness, energy will be wasted in futile arguments. In this long run, mere passion never leads to any good nor solves any problem; passion has to be controlled and disciplined by reason and tolerance.
History has recorded that difference in religion led to mass persecution; difference in politics created bad blood, and difference in opinions ended in blows. Millions of men, women and Children across the globe are bombed to death for differences. The Crusades of the middle Ages bear out this fact. A whole community were be massacred in the name of God. Even today, purges for religious believes have not been banished from society. The ISIS terror group seemingly has surpassed Al-Qaida by interminably letting blood of innocent flow –driven mad by irrational divine dictates. All this intolerance comes from bigotry, narrowness and blind self-conceit. It is the result of dogmatism, advocating a single belief to be right. This is intolerance, the refusal to be just and fair-minded.
One of the fallouts of the much discussed globalization process is the demand to meet, work and live with people of totally different culture, ethnicity and backgrounds. How one manages this heterogeneity of cultures and life styles is very crucial for the survival of humanity. Thus accepting and valuing differences between people, appreciating that these differences enrich us is quality name as tolerance. It acknowledges the vastness of reality and cherishes the many human faces of that reality. When we are tolerant we watch and listen and seek to discover how the many pieces fit together to make a wonderful whole. We are able to delight in the otherness of strangers and our intimate companions, knowing that our own lives would be less rich if everyone were more like us.
One of significant thing the month of, November reminds us the celebration of “World Tolerance Day”. To illuminate the underlying worth of tolerance, maintaining eternal peace in the world, every year November 6, is celebrated as “World Tolerance Day”. Seeing that, tolerance bears constitutional provision of UN –it must be propagated, practiced and taught in this landscape finding its immense significance. It is the virtue that helps us to put up with those, who have different ways and opinions, and outlook on life. Man is a social being and has to live in a spirit of harmony and co-operation with others. In this process some amount of give-and-take is necessary, a capacity for compromise.
Forbearance as a skill and an attitude to life has become essential for the very survival of humanity. The most significant facet is the acceptance of the fact that the diversity of our world’s many religions, languages, cultures and ethnicities is not a pretext for conflict, but is a treasure that enriches us. We cannot persuade others unless we ourselves are at the same time ready to be persuaded by practicing sweet reasonableness. Thus it will be seen that tolerance as a social virtue, is opposed to dogmatism or dictatorship. It is impossible for one to be tolerant if one is hide-bound and rigid in views or full of prejudices.
Anarchism and intolerance seem to be on the upgrade, of late. Extremists and terrorists with the help of sophisticated military weapons are seeking to destabilize a country, taking heavy toll of innocent lives. Angry young man, challenging all established norms, now parades the walks of life. Tolerance has been cast to the winds by them. Our aim should be to tackle them with a strong hand and then, if permissible, bring them to the conference table. There is no doubt in it that tolerance is the most necessary quality of our everyday life. Having imbibed the in-depth socio-political worth of tolerance it should be practiced as an integral part of our culture. If we enculture tolerance in our individual or collective endeavor, we will be free from all the pain of envy within ourselves. Then our soul will live in peace and happiness. Children from their early childhood should develop the habit of tolerance. The elders should guide them in this respect. Tolerance as a quality is indispensable in all democratic countries alike where government is held responsible to ensure pluralistic legislation acquainted with UN constitutional provision, so that no one could dare to harass another fellow man only because he owes, views and practice religion different to him.