Tolerance: The Word at the Root of the Problem

    It's happened. America has gone completely bonkers. Not that this statement comes at a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention for the last few years. Society has reached a tipping point. It started with a small word. A good word that quickly became misunderstood: tolerance. Now, to the literate, tolerance is a noun that comes from the verb "tolerate" which means to, "allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference." Pretty straight forward it would seem. A simple word. Who knew it could bring a country to such insanity?

    But how has this word done so much to impact this country, one may wonder? How could such a simple concept - that one would allow things they do not like to exist - cause insanity? The answer, unfortunately, is not as simple as the definition of "tolerance", but it lies in societies unfortunate understanding of the word.

    Tolerance, when understood correctly, is a good thing. After all, if man did not tolerate things that they did not like, he would be in quite a pickle. Tolerance is what allows the unique and talented individuals that make up the human race live with each other despite the fact that not a single one of them are identical and we're all beautifully flawed. But any good thing can be turned into a bad thing when viewed from the wrong angle.

    This is what has happened to tolerance. For some reason, Americans, and people from a better part of the world, have gotten the idea into their heads that tolerance is to simply never disagree with someone. In fact, if one were to google the word "tolerance" or "tolerate" they will find definitions (new one's I might add, go look at your old dictionary and you'll see I'm right) that are more along those lines. It should be easy for one to guess why this could be a problem. Suddenly, tolerance, which is a good thing, has been redefined.

    Most people aren't fully aware that this word has changed in such away. They continue to use the word tolerance in the old light, as a good thing that helped us all get along. But, tolerance no longer is a good thing, it is actually the exact opposite of what it used to be. In the name of tolerance, one is no longer allowed to hold opinions that people don't agree with. Students are no longer allow to utter the name of Jesus in schools because that would not be "tolerant" of other religions. Catholics and Evangelicals are no longer allowed to believe that homosexual activity is sinful (whilst proclaiming that man is not defined by his sin) because they must be tolerant of those who involve themselves in such activities. This is not tolerance, this is the opposite of it.

    Tolerance would say that Catholics and Evangelicals should be allowed to proclaim homosexual activities sinful because other people don't agree, but allow them to believe that anyway. Tolerance would say that a student should be able to proclaim Jesus as his Lord and Savior in school because other people don't agree He exists, but allow said student to believe that anyway. In fact, in order to be completely transparent, a man should be able to believe that homosexuality is alright, as should another man be allowed to believe that Socialism is the answer to the worlds problems. This is the crux of the issue: in order to tolerate someones beliefs, one must first disagree with them.

    Tolerance is not the irradiation of all disagreement. Tolerance is the state in which humanity lives with itself despite the plethora of disagreements that exist within it. Tolerance is not a reason for us to prevent people from speaking their beliefs, tolerance is the reason that people should be allowed to speak their beliefs unhindered. Tolerance can only be present in a situation where disagreement exists. Tolerance requires disagreement. It is dependent upon it. If there were no disagreement, tolerance would not be needed.

    So, to answer the original question, the word "tolerance" has had so much impact on this country because the country has forgotten the words true meaning. In this largely unnoticed blunder, Americans have ceased to tolerate one another. Instead of allowing disagreement to work itself out naturally, it is stamped out. Instead of tolerating, humankind has chosen to become a giant soup of people who do not tolerate at all. A world without tolerance is a world without individualistic expression, it is a world without opinions, without competition, even without love.

    Thus, each and every person has a duty, a duty to learn to truly tolerate, nay, to love. Society has made love between two persons the pinnacle of good things, so why do its members not love despite their differences? If one truly claims to love someone, they would love them despite their disagreements, would they not? Unless society learns this lesson, it will continue to sow hatred, which will inevitably lead to its destruction.