Violence, Damage and Tolerance

What is tolerance? It goes by many definitions, but the one I am talking about today is social tolerance, or as defined by Webster:

a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own


Usually when we thing of tolerance, we think of it in a positive way. Which, in all honesty, is not all that positive. If one tolerates someone's race/creed/orientation, does that mean, "It's not OK, but I put up with it." ? It would seem to me that the goal is acceptance, not merely tolerance.


A friend of mine returned from Iraq with a severe case of PTSD. It manifests it self in many ways from sleeplessness, depression to violent outbursts. We don't like it, but we tolerate it. When, though, does this tolerance become enabling? Is tolerance of this kind acceptable in any way shape or form?


There is all this talk about tolerance, but is this really the correct term to use? One can tolerate violence, pain, heat and cold. Is tolerance really the word we want to use in place of acceptance? When will we realize that no matter how different we are, we are still all the same? The only thing that separates us is us.


Live to love and you will love to live.