Thursday, April 22, 2010

Tolerance is a Two-way Street

It has been declared that we should all tolerate other opinions and points-of-view. A proper liberal education compiles the various studies in mathematics, science, language, and history to provide the worthy student a glimpse in to the complexities and the simple principles of man and civilization. A man truly does not gain wisdom and thereby tolerance until his learned knowledge is tempered by his experiential knowledge. Thus we have the most youthful or the perpetually college-bound minds who can be the most easily manipulated by ideals free from all the constraints of practicality. The experienced individuals, who have borne responsibilities and suffered the inequities of life, recognize the challenges inherent in a successful life.

But not all people respond to these challenges in like fashion. There are those who feel their losses and setbacks are not the nature of the struggle but the evil conspiracy of evil men. Failed individuals always have recourse to the conspiracies to cover their failures, and they have the truly evil men who take advantage of it. Thus we have two major groups of experienced people who take on the challenge of life and suffer through it and those people who blame their failures and the natural inequities on others. Ask yourself; where do you lie?

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