It seems like such a simple little thing, doesn't it? Just letting people be who they are and accepting them for that. But it always seems to be just a little bit harder to actually do than it sounds like it would be. I know I've tried it many times, and although it might work for a day or two, something always seems to happen to piss me off. And I don't blame that reaction on other people. Sure, at the time I think it's the fault of the 16-year-old jerkoff who just cut me off in the $40,000 car that daddy bought him. But later on, after reflecting on it for a little while, it's really my own fault I got pissed.
As a society, we spend entirely too much time thinking in terms of 'me' or 'I', and that's what leads to our intolerance of others. You can see evidence of that in most of the other essays I've written here, especially the ones dealing with my friends. Don't get me wrong, I care about all of my friends deeply, and I would still do whatever I could to help them if they needed it. But I think that sometimes I expect that they are going to be like me and react the same way that I would to certain things. Like I would never not call a friend back or write back or anything like that for over a week or more. I just couldn't do that. They have gone to all the trouble to try and get in touch with me, and I would never just leave them hanging. It might take a day or maybe two AT THE MOST to get back to them, but I always will.
It's hard sometimes to realize that all people truly are different, and we shouldn't be getting upset with anyone because of that. And it's the little things that are making people miserable, whether they even realize it or not. People talk about tolerance and the first thing everyone usually comes up with is racial intolerance. While that is a concern, I don't really think it's as big a concern as a small group of very vocal people want us to think it is. Most of the people I know don't have a problem with someone just because they're a black guy, or Asian or whatever. But this small vocal group is not the worst practitioner of intolerance.
No, the worst offender involved in this crime against society is religion. I know it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, or who has read these columns that I am extremely against organized religion. And once again, I do not include in this group individuals who wish to believe in God, or Allah or whomever. These people I usually have no problem with as long as they aren't preaching to me, or trying to tell me how I should be talking or acting or living. But once that 'Holier than thou' attitude surfaces we are going to have a problem.
I think the worst part about religion's practice of intolerance is their constant preaching of tolerance. Hypocrites are some of the worst scum out there, and that's what a lot of these people are. Take the church's stance against homosexuality for instance. This is simply ridiculous. These people have done nothing wrong, and they have done nothing to hurt the church, so why does the church feel they have to attack them? I don't understand that. The only reason I can come up with is that the homosexuals are living differently than the majority of the religious. That's the church's intolerance: anybody who THINKS differently, believes something different must not be tolerated. They'll never say that though. What they actually say to the public is that they must love their fellow man, although they don't have to love what he does. But it's their DUTY to God to try and turn them from this erroneous path. The first part of that is definitely a good thing, and a good way to live. Where they screw up is the second part. There is no reason or REAL justification for trying to change someone just because they are different than you, or do things that you don't like. And despite what a lot of these people think, the homosexuals are not hurting anyone, so deal with it. You can accept the way someone is or lives without having to like it, and that's what tolerance is all about.
Organized religion doesn't only hate the homosexuals though. They are against anything that might be remotely fun, or make life enjoyable or even just worth living. I'm a huge fan of heavy metal music, especially all the glam stuff from the 80's, and that is definitely on religion's hit list. I can remember on a couple of occasions I went along to these anti-metal seminars with a friend. His mother was one of those born-again Christians who was out to save everyone, regardless of whether or not they actually NEEDED her to save them. But I thought it might actually be fun, and I was right. It was hysterical. This 60-year-old mental midget is up there telling me how bad bands like Kiss and Iron maiden and Motley Crue were, all the while not having a clue what he was talking about. He quite obviously hadn't even listened to the entire songs he was rambling on about. He was simply picking out lines that would support the point he was trying to make. The sad thing was that people there were actually buying his crap. But on the plus side, the ones who were buying into it seemed like they were already so far into this whole religion thing they will probably never have a sane thought again. Meanwhile the few people like me who were there for a good laugh, and the other half of the audience who were hoping to learn something, were all looking at this guy like he had a giraffe's head sticking out the side of his neck. I don't think he won any new converts that night, so maybe there is a God after all.
While the overly religious folk might be the worst offenders here, they most definitely do not have a monopoly on intolerance. We all practice it, to greater or lesser degree. And we don't always even realize that we're doing it. I know I'm guilty of it. It's not something I'm proud of, but I cannot deny it either. All I can do is work harder to try and be a little better about it. Although I have already been getting better just by carefully watching some of the people I was or still am hanging out with. I used to be extremely anti-homosexual, and while I don't actually condone their lifestyle, I don't condemn them for it either. And despite what your preacher tells you, you are NOT condoning something simply because you don't speak out against it. That's part of those silly little word and mind games that they like to play with people. It's infantile, but that's organized religion for you. There used to be a whole lot of different groups that I had little tolerance for. Gays, teenagers, (when I wasn't one,) adults, (before I became one,) cops, lawyers, clergy, etc. There was a very LONG list of people and groups that I had no tolerance for. Now I don't hate groups. Instead I simply hate individuals. I know that's not really all that much better, but in my warped mind it is something of an improvement. And most of the people I have problems tolerating now do seem to fall into one big group; people who routinely practice gross stupidity. Of course that's an awfully large group, so I am working on tolerating them as well, although some of them like clergy or cops, seem to be ALMOST universally no good, so that's kind of a tough one to fix. But I'm still trying.
Other drivers always seem to be a big problem also, although I don't think I'm alone in that one. But I think I'm already getting a little better there as well. As recently as last summer the driver of EVERY other car on the road was an idiot, whether they had done anything to warrant this label or not. Now I wait until they do something stupid before labeling them an idiot. Small steps.
And I think small steps are the answer here. Although I confess I don't really know how to help everyone become more tolerant of others that are different than ourselves. I'm sure not jumping to conclusions will help immensely. Just because some guy talks with a lisp does not automatically mean he's gay. We can't assume that just because we have never seen some chick out with a guy anywhere that she is a lesbian. We can't know for certain that just because some guy has a badge that he IS a huge dick while HAVING a microscopic one, (although that one turns out to be the case more often than not.) If I had the answer to this problem, I would be happy to provide it here. Unfortunately I don't know how to fix this problem for everyone. I only know that I'm gonna try not to be too quick to judge people until I at least talk to them, and I'll just live my life one day at a time. And for anyone who doesn't like that, that's just too fuckin' bad.