Day in and day out, I scroll through news feeds on a variety of different social media sites and always come across many different perspectives on a wide range of issues. Whether it is a political opinion, religious view or anyone’s perspective on any other topic. I always enjoy reading not just the person who wrote the post opinion, but also the opinion of the commenters. Unfortunately, the majority of post I have come across always ends in huge debacle. It isn’t just on social media sites I see people arguing relentlessly, but also in a variety of public places massive disputes have broken out as well. Growing up I never understood why wars would break out or why people argued tooth and nail with each other. Until my first year at college, I learned the two words that have changed my entire perspective, tolerance and acceptance.
Two incredibly simple words with the power to create a peaceful society and until each of us learn these two words our world will not know peace. We are taught growing up that we are all different, we are all special and we should accept that not everyone is the same as us, but how come that doesn’t seem to carry on into the adult world? Why is it we are taught so many different “lessons” when we are younger, but as we get older, adults don’t seem to follow the same lessons?
Talking about the many lessons most of us have learn, but occasionally we are all guilty of forgetting. Even as we get older, we should be reminded of the lessons grade school and high school have taught us. “Treat everyone the way you want to be treated,” you cannot disagree we all want to be accepted for who we are and what we believe in and not have someone criticize for our beliefs. “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all,” seems simple enough, I accept you have your opinion and you should accept and tolerate I have my own opinion too. “Let us agree to disagree,” we might not see eye to eye, but we can at least agree on that. The last one is one I hear people say more often than not, “treat people with respect,” whether they respect you or not, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, respect cost nothing, you should always use it. The simplest lessons that would create a more peaceful society in even the most littlest ways.
To get back on track, no matter who you are or what you believe in, you need to know your opinion matters. However, you also need to accept that each person around you is also entitled to his or her own opinion. You do not have to agree with anyone else’s opinion, but you need to tolerate it. Each and every one of us needs to learn to accept and tolerate that there is more than one opinion out there; we will never achieve a peaceful world until we learn how to tolerate one another. We, as a society, need to create a common ground of acceptance. We need to relearn a few elementary school lessons, to remember to accept everyone even if we don’t agree with his or her ideologies.
At this moment in time, our world needs us to change each one of our attitudes towards others who differ from our own beliefs. Our world needs acceptance; our world needs to learn tolerance. There are a vast number of religions; there are also countless political standpoints and be proud of what you stand for, use your voice to speak your mind, but use it wisely. Use it to unify the diversity through out our world, rather than tearing down another’s ideologies.
