Our Inability to See

The greatest single threat to world peace is not what most might think. It is not crime, sin, or war. It is intolerance; the inability to accept others for who they are and as they are.

As long as we create expectations and demand that others force themselves into our conception of what is right, wrong, or acceptable, we will always have strife. The old "Us" versus "Them" attitude, the "I" am right and "You" are wrong way of thinking will never bring peace. "We" will never covert "Them" to our way of thinking. So how much better would it be if we stopped trying to remake the world into our image? The old Wiccan saying, "Do as you will, but do no harm", is a good rule to follow.

That is not meant to mean that injustice must be over looked. "Harm" and injustice must not be allowed and I don't see anything wrong with protecting the world and its citizens from it. A civilized society, where all are protected and free, is the only sane place to live. Of course, what is really harmful and what is my personal opinion can be two different things, and that is where intolerance raises its ugly head.

Murder, rape, theft, denying someone their freedom or equality, those things are easy. Those things are not acceptable. Walking naked down the street with a daisy behind my ear? That is probably not a good thing and it is a bit gross. Harmful and distasteful, or that which does not serve the greater public good, can often be difficult to seperate.

Let's use a hot button issue as an example; homosexuality. That's one of those things that some people just have to believe is unacceptable, sinful, and must be stamped out. But I hate to burst your bubble, its just none of your business with whom another person falls in love with or what type of sex they have.

Its interesting to me that the people who protest homosexuality, cannot see that ultimately their objection is based on their personal opinion and absolutely nothing else. Now apply that reasoning to your religion, your politics, your social standing, etc, and you might be able to see that much of what we assume to be true about the world around us is not based on freedom and equality, it is based on our intolerance and inability to see beyond our own ignorance.

Thankfully, ignorance can be cured.

When you see that many of the things we try and force on the world are in fact our personal opinion, even perhaps the opinion of many people, you come to the ultimate question; "What right does anyone have to force their opinion on other people?"

The answer is you don't have that right.