PRAISE TO TOLERANCE

I still remember when my children were very small, I taught them two things: Always ask the question WHY and be TOLERANT. . Of course I explained to them what it was and today I come to praise TOLERANCE

Let's see what the word means. To tolerate means to accept without formally authorizing something that one has the right to prohibit. The most striking example is that of having admitted brothels operating under administrative supervision. They have thus become houses of tolerance. I will stop here.

Later on, when we are asked: "What is tolerance?" the answer becomes: "It is when people refuse to have an opinion contrary to their own". And unfortunately, some people are willing to kill because of it. We have all seen what anti-Semitism has done and is doing. The Nazis were a good example.

This same tolerance has caused intolerance, that is to say, a lack of tolerance, a hateful disposition towards those who have different opinions than oneself. Dostoyevsky went further, saying that tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be forbidden to think about anything in order not to offend the imbeciles. Are we there yet?

Today, the word tolerance has positive connotations. It is associated with open-mindedness, freedom of conscience and religion, and respect for what others think. This attitude is a recent phenomenon. I found these words in Dreuz Info of September 30, 2021.

A certain philosopher, Karl Popper said: One should have no tolerance for intolerance. And Disraeli added: Travel teaches tolerance and I know something about it having traveled a lot myself. I even thought that this tolerance was like an aspect of peace. It must be constantly maintained.

I believe like Voltaire that discord is the greatest evil of mankind and tolerance is the remedy. Speaking of such a French thinker makes me ask this question: I wonder how long it took the French people to respect their famous motto: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity? We know that France colonized several African countries whose population was predominantly black. Has France been tolerant? And if I remain among the French, here is another one, Émile Zola, who claims that throughout the centuries, the history of peoples is nothing but a lesson of mutual tolerance.

Closer to us, this Israeli thinker, Yuval Noah Harare, who is all the rage with the books he writes. He said that tolerance is not a trademark of sapiens. In modern times, a simple difference in skin color, dialect or religion can cause one group of sapiens to exterminate another. Would ancient sapiens have been more tolerant? Could it be that only tolerance will ensure this much desired social cohesion between the different groups that we are and thus avoid harming each other?

It is a fact that we do not all think in the same way and do not see the truth from the same angles. And Gandhi would say that the golden rule of conduct is mutual tolerance.
I never thought I would use a wise word from Michele Obama and now I have found one: « Whoever comes to my secular country veiled, will see me in his, without a veil and dressed as I usually am! Tolerance is not a one-way street. »
Bravo Madame!

Kofy Anan was well placed to say that tolerance is a virtue that makes peace possible.  But I think he had some difficulty in accomplishing his mission. On the other hand, a certain artist, writer, musicologist, philosopher and scientist by the name of Vladimir Jankélévitch said something simpler;
"Tolerance is a temporary moment. It allows those who do not like each other to put up with each other, until they can love each other.

I like these beautiful words so much that I will consider them as my conclusion, but I am tempted to add others, equally perceptive. As if love and tolerance were the only answer to the problem of life. And I would like to add education to tolerance. For me, these two words represent a culmination.

And finally, a word from an unknown (to me) Ostad Elahi who consoles me with these beautiful words: "The more the field of thought expands, the more patience and tolerance increases". This made Georges Clemenceau say: "All tolerance becomes in the long run an acquired right.

And finally, it seems that tolerance must be an integral part of religion. This made Charles de Gaule say: "Medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, allowing Jews and Christians to worship, an example that was unfortunately not followed in the West for centuries.