Tolerance

We cannot change anything until we accept it.  Attack does not liberate, it oppresses.

     Carl Jung

We know so many people who live in fear about sharing their stories – their pains, their struggles, their loneliness, the truth of who they are.  For many reasons they are uncomfortable acknowledging and being who they are, of accepting who they are.  It’s sad that it is this way.  There are far too many people who live their entire lives hiding who they are because of fear – fear of intolerance, that they won’t be respected, that they will be severely judged, that they will be shunned, that they will not be loved. This fear is what keeps all of us from living our lives honestly and authentically. 

It’s a shame when someone takes the risk of being open and honest about whom they are and immediately someone else condemns them, what they feel, or what they have experienced.  Condemnation immediately shuts people down, and puts up walls and keeps them from opening up.  After all, who will be open and honest, knowing that there are people who respond with words and actions that attack who they are? 

Just yesterday, a 12-year veteran of the NBA, Jason Collins, took a huge risk and opened up about his sexuality.  He said that he didn’t like living a lie anymore and decided that enough was enough, that he needed to share who he really is.  Whether you agree or disagree about the nature of his sexuality isn’t the point.  Our role in this world is not to point out other’s “faults” and “failings”, but instead to hear them, to listen to them, and to support them as human beings, where there is so much more that unites us than divides us.  It’s hard enough to be human without a constant barrage of criticism and denigration.  

As Jason Collins has said:

No one wants to live in fear. I’ve always been scared of saying the wrong thing. I don’t sleep well. I never have. But each time I tell another person, I feel stronger and sleep a little more soundly. It takes an enormous amount of energy to guard such a big secret. I’ve endured years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a lie. I was certain that my world would fall apart if anyone knew. And yet when I acknowledged my sexuality I felt whole for the first time. I still had the same sense of humor, I still had the same mannerisms and my friends still had my back.

No matter what the issue, we need to help everyone be their best selves, to help each other live to our fullest potential, to use our innate gifts for the betterment of the world.

Photo by Sarah Ardin on Unsplash