TOLERANCE

I think the point has to be repeated and made quite strongly that God never desired that we be all the same, of course he could have simply made us so. Similarly, it is not that some of us are different, no; we are all different, and for a good purpose. Furthermore, we humans say that variety is the spice of life; the time has come for us to mean it as we say it, because it appears therein lies the hope of our world: the realization that we are different and therefore can only survive and fruitfully prosper if we learn to tolerate and accommodate one another. The reverse will be absolute chaos.

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Tolerance is not only required of those who are markedly different, but also from those who are seemingly the same. Within the same family, the same parish, the same church, the same school, the same workplace, the same community or neighbourhood, the same region, the same religion, the same tribe, the same language, the same profession or vocation, everywhere in fact, we need tolerance. I am tempted to believe that tolerance within the same space and groupings is much more consequential and therefore more urgently needed than tolerance between people who are apparently different or outside our groupings. We need to work some more to achieve more in this regard.

Tolerance is not merely about giving people their space to live and let's live; it could begin from there but it ultimately should lead to us understanding people more and appreciating their differences from us and trying to exploit those necessary differences for the common good. God doesn't want us all to be the same, no one should either. When we think about how difficult it is to tolerate some people who, of course, can be very difficult, let us also imagine the consequences of not tolerating one another. The Nigerian situation paints a fitting and vividly lucid picture, and many have their personal experiences in this connection as well. But I am not here to talk about Nigeria.

Begin with yourself, tolerate yourself, tolerate others and thereby please God who made us so. Thank you so profoundly for tolerating me within your life and your space here, and for tolerating my daily boring posts for these three months and counting. God bless you for me.