I ask not for your pity, but your understanding
I look not for your forgiveness, but your tolerance
I seek not your judgement, but your forbearance
For when the pathways to death open,
Your morality shall hold no sway over me
And mine none over you.



I was listening to music the other day with no intention of writing anything, when these lines just seemed to form in my head of their own volition. The matter of tolerance and acceptance has been one that's led me into many arguments with a number of people-including my closest friends and parents. I remember feeling outraged at quite a young age, listening to my parents discussing some lady who had left her husband for someone else. The tone of judgement that I sensed in their voices felt suffocating to me. It's so easy, so tempting to sit on your high and mighty throne of self righteousness and pass your verdict on the actions of others. So easy to figure out your moral barometer and judge everyone and everything on that scale. Details be damned, viewpoints can be ignored - The throne has spoken, feed him to the lions.
The question of judgement simply boils down to superiority. When you've passed your unfavourable opinion on the lifestyle, actions, relations of someone, you are essentially saying you're better than them.
Intolerance of course, is just an offshoot of the same. Once your barometer is set, anything that doesn't fit in is just not acceptable. And I just don't mean intolerance of the kind that is often spoken of- religious, racial, sexual, political. It's the day to day sneering of our noses, the snide remarks, the disdain we feel when we deem the actions of someone as too different to be correct.

Another thing I've always found interesting is the basis for this scale of 'propriety'. The most obvious is of course religious beliefs(whether derived from scriptures, canon, superstitions, customs). But who says it's just religious people who can be intolerant of things outside their self created 'moral threshold'. Society, education, cliques- so much goes into a person's opinion of what's acceptable and what's not.
But where does one draw the line? What's grey for you may be a bright white for me and black for someone else.
It's not easy being tolerant of people and things that are different from your way of living and thinking. The most obvious way is, of course, to say that as long as your actions aren't harming me or anyone else you should be free to do as you please. But is that too simplistic? Is it too hopelessly idealistic?