I have been thinking about the events happening in our world. If you focus on all of the negative news, you could have an anxiety attack. There are a lot of negative things happening. The world does not know equality. There is no justice or fairness for many people in many countries. Jews are being required to register again. We have done this before and not that long ago. In World War II German-occupied Europe, six million Jews were killed after being forced to register with the government. So were Poles, Serbs, Croats and Gypsies. Now, women and children are being sold into human slavery. Many will be sold to provide sexual pleasure to rich immoral men. Some will be sold to sweat shops and forced to toil eighteen hours a day. Meanwhile, the Middle East is a never-ending nightmare.
People are angry. People hate others. People are greedy. People want to kill entire races. People are not trusting and often it would be folly for them to be trusting. People are afraid of changes and differences. They forget that difference does not mean unsafe.
Tolerance grows with familiarity. Familiarity grows from knowledge. A lot of people don’t look the same or think the same but really do have quite a bit in common. Every person, male or female, young or old has a story. Learning people’s stories is what ends the fear, makes the other person seem more like you. No matter who you are or what you have survived, there is always someone who has suffered more. There are people around who have faced as much pain as you have or more. Many people have been abused, or raped; people have been humiliated and bullied; and millions of people on our planet have been homeless at least once in their lifetimes.
Hunger is everywhere and it is a sadness that I don’t think people recover from easily. The face of a child who is slowly starving should bring compassion and action to our hearts and minds and not indifference or satisfaction. So a key to increasing tolerance is, I feel, listening to people’s stories. Really listening. Opening up our hearts and allowing yourself to feel some of what they may have felt. They may look different, but they are your sister or brother in the family of man.
One person is beaten, another ends up homeless, fire takes someone else’s home. Some people are mugged in Central Park and some are attacked in Syria. If we can learn to remember how much other’s stories parallel our own we become more tolerant. We begin to care about others. Not just the others who are like us but the others who are different. Different education, different religion, different skin, different ages, different countries split people apart but they shouldn’t. There is only one world for us all to live on, there is no one being who never suffers or never causes someone else pain without meaning to.
Before we start a third World War, or a virus surfaces that makes the Black Plague look benign, or we wipe out an entire race of human beings, we need to stop and to learn to love one another. We need to accept one another and to live with Truth. The Truth being that we are all the same. We were created by Divine Energy. We are filled with the ability to live filled with Divine Love. We just need to change ourselves. We need to accept our lives, accept the people around us and work with others to make the world a better place. Here is to everyone who believes in love, peace, and acceptance. We will all die if we don’t learn to do these things. My friends, my brothers and sisters, I love you, I accept you, I forgive your mistakes, I offer you support in the changes you want to make to yourself. I just ask for the same from each of you, and I wish the same for each of you.
Non-stop begonias and irises. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Purple velvet Irises. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Rio rose. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
Pink rose. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014
My garden is flourishing. Photographed and copyright by Barbara Mattio 2014
idealisticrebel 
Even conservatives and liberals have more in common with each other than they think. We have to learn to live together.
We all do. And we has better do it quickly. Hugs, Barbara
Great artic;e but no mention of all tha hundredz of thousandz Afrikan men. women and children that lost their livez during tha middle passage or tha many more that lost their livez during slavery,
Tha many more that have lost their livez to racist copz, rent-a-copz, security guardz and vigilantez using tha stand ur ground law az an excuze to murder black people on a daily basis.
Oh, my friend, you are right. I forget that doing it a different way doesn’t change the fact that Africans have suffered. I am so sorry. I meant no disrespect. Perhaps I need to learn more about what has happened to Africans since slavery. I need to expand my knowledge…and I will. Hugs and love, Barbara
Right on.
You may want to read my blog from today. I wrote it thinking about you. Hugs, Barbara
There is so much beauty in this world that it almost makes me cry. And there is so much horror that it definitely makes me cry.
Yes, please. More tolerance, more compassion, more love for others, not just for ourselves. Let’s treat everybody with the dignity they deserve
We must keep talking, living and encouraging people until it happens. Hugs, Barbara
Indeed! That is why I try to do with the channels I have 🙂
Have a good weekend. Hugs, Barbara
Can we learn tolerance? Yes, if we choose we can do anything. It is whether we choose. The problem is, we don’t choose. I think though we have to want for more, we have to go beyond tolerance, we have to reach for love.
Everything you say is true, but we can’t fix the world by wishing for a better one. We need to recognize the fundamental problems that exist and find within ourselves the will to address those problems.
Consider the level of casual violence we see in almost every TV show and movie. Video games can be even worse. For too many, this constant barrage of “solving problems with force” comprises the bulk of their entertainment diet.
More subtle than the outright violence, consider the level of snark and outright cruelty used by our media “heroes” as a normal mode of interaction. How many of these use wisdom, intelligence and understanding as a platform for dealing with others?
Consider the disdain for true knowledge, education and rational discourse that permeates society today. The interweb provides a feast of potential learning, but too many people just want dessert. We rapidly seem to be losing our facility with language and with ideas.
Until we recognize that our entire way of life has become corrupt, ignorant and self-serving things won’t change.
Of course we have to recognize the problems and take action. It is too easy for people to get buried in the darkness and give up. Your words are exactly why bloggers such as you and myself and millions of others are needed to keep the conversation going and to keep people thinking. Something they don’t want us to do. Thank you for your words. You are most welcome here. Hugs, Barbara
Thanks! (Although you might want to hold off on the welcome until you get to know me! I’m a bit of a dedicated rebel and iconoclast… 😀 )
LOL. I have always been a rebel and I love a good discussion. I look forward to getting to know you better. Hugs, Barbara
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
So very well said! Right on target ….. We all are one!!! All connected through our humanity!
Thank you my dear friend. If people only would open up their hearts and do what their hearts are urging them to do. Yes, it may cost something, but isn’t it worth the price? Do we all really want to live with all of this hatred, violence, pain and sorrow? I do not! Hugs, Barbara