some lights seem eternal
in this springtime of hope

Tolerance vs. Acceptance

January 08, 2003

Tolerance, in my mind, isn�t the same thing acceptance.

Tolerance is merely putting up with the fact that other people and ideas exist and that is not okay. Tolerance communicates to me, and by extension humanity, that other people and ideas exist and they have to be endured. People of different ethnicities, faiths and ideologies exist and since you can�t exterminate them then you have to endure them.

That isn�t what I want for humanity. That isn�t what I want for my students as a public or Lutheran schoolteacher. This isn�t what I want for my nephews and cousins. This isn�t what I�d want for my own children.

This isn�t what Benjamin Franklin and John Adams envisioned for the American Republic. It isn�t what I expected when I migrated to this nation nearly ten years ago. Damn, it�s been that long.

Acceptance for me is the gold standard of the American Republic, the Christian Church in its true and catholic sense (little �c� catholic = the universality of the followers of Christ on Earth not the denomination headquartered in Rome) and for anyone that passes through my classroom. To dispel ignorance and promote acceptance are major reasons that I became a teacher and will return to it.

Acceptance, as defined by me, is more than tolerance�s acknowledgement that something different exists in the world and acquiescing to that fact. I want the children under my care, supervision and tutelage to accept people.

I want them to see people of different ethnicity, faith and ideology and know that it is okay to be different. Not to tolerate them but to be okay with them. They don�t have to agree with them but I want them to know that it is okay to be different like that.

This isn�t easy. Most faiths don�t teach this, mine does, but I have a degree in theology and I promise you they don�t. If I hear the President say one more time that Islam is peaceful or the Pope say they�re like us one more time I am going to vomit on their shoes not mine. Ethnic groups have clashed ever since they were different and the hatreds run deeper than my disagreement with Leslie over who inherits the piano (it�s mine). Ideologies are important to us and we all want the world to be a well-run place (excepting anarchists who are just out to have a good time and I think are generally misunderstood). It�s hard to reconcile with people who want to destroy you construct and rearrange your world.

In short, tolerance isn�t easy and acceptance in even more difficult. However I am a happier and healthier person emotionally when I accept people for who and what they are and what they want to be then when I merely tolerate them. Tolerance is dealing with the fact that other people are different and Acceptance is being okay with and even enjoying that.

Don�t construct that because I am a servant of the church or an activist for the Republican Party that I am not, in general, an accepting person. I am not going to legitimize my views with a token African American friend, a distant Aboriginal American relative or a Pacific Islander that I dated in High School.

I will admit there are things I cannot tolerate, much less accept. I cannot accept bad choices. I cannot accept people with little or no self-respect (I�m not talking about clinical mental illnesses) and I have a hard time with liars. I, unlike most, strive to understand other people, groups of people and I accept their right to exist and enjoy it. It makes the world go round. Everyone�s Grandma will tell you, it takes all kinds.

We should all just appreciate Mrs. Robinson�s beauty and get along

Tolerance is putting up with something; Acceptance is being okay with it.

~~Side Note~~

I would call my friend Anna many things, but she�s the paragon of humanity that we all strive to be. I can only describe her intelligence and wit by noting the fact that she�s the only woman who leaves me speechless. Anna and I had this discussion and this is where, by mutual agreement, we devised what we believed about tolerance and acceptance. I love that palindrome. You must fear, love and trust Anna in all things. Martin Luther would have said that if he knew her too. I would recount the history of Christopher and Anna but I would not want the world to know how exactly to platonically tame this shrew.

In short, we constructed this view, and debated it at our very conservative and Christian University. We accept their views (which are not as intolerant as people would like to believe they are) even if don�t tow the party line.

~~I digress no more~~

9:02 AM :: 1 comments so far ::
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