Tolerance And Acceptance
It is undisputed that there are many people or things in the world that irritates you or do not suit your choice. Very often, people would just argue or fight back against those who disagree with their own point of views. This is so common in our daily lives but why is it that some people can cope with these disagreements while some people simply flare up on become unhappy due to these reasons? I believe such cases would usually happen when somebody is too self-centred, or thought that he must be right and that others must be wrong. Such people do not think carefully before they react and argue with the other party and I believe they must be rather impulsive in their actions and words.
This is why we discuss about tolerance and acceptance. When one is unhappy with others who disagree with him without any valid reasons, it means that he has poor tolerance. This is because he only thinks about himself and not from others' perspectives. He simply refuses to accept others because he is unable to see the reason behind the others' perspectives and choice and what consequences they may lead to. Therefore, his poor tolerance can cause misunderstandings or prevent him from learning something new. In other cases, some people can be very petty. They refuse to accept some other people around them because they are different from the majority in which they are in. These people are selfish and they could harm those different from them psychologically as they will become more lonely.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, I think that Atticus showed greatest tolerance towards the people around him who may be different or are against him. One example would be that he accepted Calpurnia, who is Black, as a normal person and treated her normally like he treated other Whites. Atticus also showed acceptance towards the Cunninghams who are poor but honest and works very hard to earn a living. Unlike Atticus, Aunt Alexandra(Atticus' sister) dislike Calpurnia and the Cunninghams because they are not of the same status as her. Atticus also showed tolerance after Mrs Dubose badmouthed him. He even continued to respect her and treat her as a friend. This is because Atticus can understand others well and know that many people have different perspectives towards certain things. Therefore, he is able to accept or tolerate most of the people around him.
posted by Gary Lim @ 7:53 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
I disagree with Gary's point on everyone who have no tolerance flares up, and that people without tolerance are self-centered. Can it be that those with tolerance have already tolerated something bad a lot of time and thus cannot take it anymore. Also, being without tolerance does not mean that you are self-centered. Haven't you ever seen volunteers who are short-tempered? I'm sure that in this world, everyone has flaws and thus this unfortunate group of people just happen to flare up quickly. It could also be genetic; my mother and I are both short tempered.
Sorry, Nathan. I think I did not make myself clear enough in the blog post. People who have weak tolerance are usually because they just could not accept something from the start. If a volunteer or someone else has tolerated another party for a long period of time and feel frustrated in the end, it means that this person cannot accept the party from the start. This show he has weak tolerance. Being short tempered and having poor tolerance is two different things. I think you have got the definition of tolerance a little confused. The ability of tolerance and acceptance do not depend on your genes at all. Instead, it depends on a person's perspective or willingness to accept others even though others may have many flaws or are just different from the majority.
In To Kill a Mockning Bird, I agree that Atticus was a very tolerent man. However, I think that his level of tolerance is a little unrealistic as he even allows his children to call him by his name. I do not think that everyone is as tolerant as his. Therefore, I believe that we should try and understand other people's behaviour and forgive him. I believe that that is the best way to show tolerance.
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