11/5/10
Well…..do you think all the craziness is over? I really hope so – but I don’t think so. With the elections decided (well – most of them anyway), many of the politicos are now talking about “bi-partisanship” and “working together” to solve the serious problems. But will they really? Or is it just a means to an end.
It seems to me that “intolerance” has become a belief system. It’s my way or the highway. If you don’t think the way I think on a particular issue then you’re wrong and I’m right, and I’m good and you’re evil. And while it is way too prevalent throughout our society, politics has become the poster-child for intolerance. It worries me – because intolerance breeds hate, and hate is the genesis for bad things to happen. Think about this for a minute – in the entire history of the world, every single atrocity against humankind has been rooted in intolerance.
I recently went out to dinner with a good friend of mine and he told me a story about his wife and her sister-in-law being on opposite sides of a very emotional and intense issue. The issue touched their lives and one of them was put in a position of needing to make a decision based on her beliefs (it was no longer something hypothetical!). Guess what? They didn’t hate each other, they didn’t think each other evil – they agreed to disagree, and carried on. My friend told me that they are every bit as close and care every bit as much for each other as they ever did.
So why can’t our politicians, our religious leaders, and even our business leaders operate that way. They seem to have forgotten about caring and respect for each other. They seem to have forgotten that it is ok to agree to disagree. WE need to make sure that this is a requirement for any of those jobs…..
(see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 10 – A Final Word)
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