Tolerance is a virtue which has been talked about in all
religious books, teachers, gurus, et al.
But the fact is that it is understated and the importance in the present
scenario is understated – considering the situation which unfolds in front of
us each day, though all of us claim to be religious / god fearing people, the
fact is that we just ignore the existence of other people in the world. The
world presently is just about “I, Me and Myself”.
The recent case is of the two ladies who aired their thoughts
on Facebook about the inconvenience to the common man because of the closure of
transportation, medical shops, ATM’s. The fact is that as much a person has a
right to mourn a person’s demise, equally is the right of another person to go
on with his life as it is. Why was action taken to impose a certain section of
society’s thinking on the other people as well? Is it because we want to feel
powerful by subduing the other person or we are just trying to satisfy our ego?
Religious intolerance is another factor where each religious
leader believes and teaches that their religion / teachings is the true and
pure religion. Having said that, though they are not necessarily propagating
that the other religions are not good enough but it is the perception and the
upbringing of today’s society that things are a zero and one game or a Black /
White scheme. We need to understand that life is full of colors – with each
color having different shades and hues. If as a human being we are able to
understand that I believe the world would be a better place to live.
To some extent one of the reason for the intolerance is also
the kind of environment we have in schools – which makes us intolerant to the
success of other classmates. That is why we see a lot of fragile teenagers –
who are ready to bully their classmates, pick up fights if somebody opposes
their actions, emotional fragility of getting rejected if they do not score
well in exams (which has led number of kids to suicide or extreme measures). As
elders we might probably have to build the confidence of kids to make them more
independent emotionally and accept rejection / failure as part of life. Use the
failure as a ladder of success rather than a downslide.
I feel the point is that more than our own success and happiness
– we would like to see the other person miserable in most cases. That is how
life has become and parents should inculcate this attitude amongst their kids
to make this world a better place to live in.
"O mere masroof
khuda apni duniya dekh zaraa"...! (Nasir Kazmi)
jahaan aadmi to hai Insaan ki kami hai,
Hansee to hai; khushi ki kami hai,
dil to hai Dhadkan ki kamee hai,
Soorat to hai Zirat ki kamee hai,
O mere masroof khuda apni duniya dekh zaraa!!
jahaan aadmi to hai Insaan ki kami hai,
Hansee to hai; khushi ki kami hai,
dil to hai Dhadkan ki kamee hai,
Soorat to hai Zirat ki kamee hai,
O mere masroof khuda apni duniya dekh zaraa!!
