...can't be your savior, i don't have the power...

Currently listening to: Circle the Drain - Katy Perry

.concretejungle.

Spencer Street, Melbourne, July 2010

Let's talk about tolerance.

You know how there's ALWAYS at least one person around you who blindly accepts whatever's relevant to their dismal capacity and hates everything else, right?

Yes, those ballistic, ignorant muthaflippers who think that this world as we know it is now fucked beyond repair and is directly heading down a dark, gloomy path to a certain fiery furnace filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth. Basically these self-haters still believe lawbreakers should be stoned to death and women should always stay home with the kids. Some may even stoop so low they choose to refer to inspirational pop icons like Kylie Minogue or Lady Gaga as vicious minions of the antichrist, if that makes sense.

These people would cling to their convictions like baby koalas to their mothers and reject contradictory claims about their judgment with stubborn verbal swipes so sharp and swift even Bill O'Reilly would be put to shame. If that doesn't work, more often than not they will resort to direct violence, with public beatings and fire-starting as two of their most effective means of destruction. Trying to negotiate with them is roughly equivalent to yelling to a brick wall: you get no coherent answer, your throat gets dry and your voice strained after a while, and the problem at hand stays unresolved. But try giving the wall even the slightest of touch and the entire facade will collapse on you, covering you in ruin. Get it?

What sad, pathetic little creatures, these blokes are. There should be a special resting place dedicated just for them, with colorful balloons and green tea cupcakes and other silly what-have-yous, where they can talk about dirty politics and self-repression all day so they will stop being bitter little bastards and move the hell on. Now that may solve the problem at the very least. But I digress.

And in case you're wondering, I'm fully aware of the fact that I may be exaggerating just a little with my speech. But you get my point.

Anyway.

Let's say you and I both have a certain something we seriously - and I mean SERIOUSLY - love. I love my A, and you love your B. Long story short, for some reason I begin to hate B, and your borderline-obsessive fondness towards that wrinkly, disgusting entity does nothing to help me get over my rapidly blossoming resentment. Soon enough I find myself sulking over the fact that you're being a retarded imbecile for choosing to love B so effin' much, and I'm convinced that having B in your life has ruined you in and out.

What do I do then?

Do I go out of my way and tell you off for being foolish and blind? Do I march into your house with a steak knife and demand to stab your beloved B repeatedly until he/she/it breaks? Do I spread hateful statements about B through every single social platform I have access to just to piss you off? Do I attempt to break down the fence to your house or burn down your entire front lawn just to make my blatantly-offensive actions even more aggressive?

Or, alternatively, do I just choose to stay put and shut up, because your deliberate choice to keep B close to your heart is really none of my business?

Then say at one point you know about this little vendetta and decide to ask me nicely about why B is so unacceptably repulsive to me it turns my insides and makes me sick. Do I directly break into a string of offensive curses without letting you tell your side of the story? Do I cover my ears and chant nursery rhymes at the top of my lungs so I don't have to hear anything you've got to say? Do I, still, choose to be stubborn and act upon my unvalidated feelings? Or, being the wise, mature human being that I am, do I choose to stop, calm down, and listen?

Well, I know this is really hard to digest *rolls eyes* but when it all comes down to these two choices, then I guess the answer's a no-brainer. Obviously. Or is it, really?

There's still a lot of people out there up to this day who still don't get why tolerance is paramount in a global, modern society which continually endorses the acceptance of diversity - in other words, the very society we're living in right here 'n now. These are the people who tirelessly rallies against many aspects of equality and condemns the minority - whatever 'minority' means to them - wherever they go. And for what purpose, other than generating more hate in return for their actions? Hey, I might not be the brightest person in the universe, but seriously, folks, I don't get it.

I mean, really, if every single little problem could be solved by violently protesting against it on the streets and burning down buildings, then we wouldn't even be talking about the mere possibility of achieving world peace, now, would we?

So what if some people prefer something over something else? Everyone is entitled to express their feelings and have their own preferences - that is, and should be, a given, in any situation. We all like different things, don't we? If I like strawberry jam and you don't, does that automatically give you the right to barge into my life, deprive me of my precious jam, and force me to eat something else, like, say, orange marmalade? Aside from the fact that I really don't like marmalade - which may or may not be relevant to this analogy - I don't think that's the right thing to do. Don't you think so too?

Likewise, I should not feel obliged to meddle with any of your preferences. We are all different in our own simple ways; our differences make us who we are, as a collective. This should go uncontested.

Ah, ain't diversity beautiful? *winks*

All I'm saying is, of course we all have certain things with which we agree and don't agree. The question I wanna emphasize here is about whether or not we should go out of our way to confront those who don't share our beliefs. I know for a fact - at least for me personally - that the answer's a big NO. I think we should never - and I mean NEVER - be hostile towards others we share differences with, as long as those people don't attempt in any way to invade our personal space and harm us first. To each his / her own. I have no objections.

All of us should be smart enough by now to realize that nothing good will ever come out of hate. Especially on others who, underneath it all, really are just like us. We often see many parts of ourselves reflected in others' actions, especially the ones we resent. Remember that.

Practice tolerance. Do so with consistency and responsibility, and harmony will come. Just you watch.

I can't speak for all of us here, though.

Like I said, I'm not here to judge. Your call.

And to sum up, a powerful quote, from the Lady of All Things Different herself,

"It's always wrong to hate, but it's never wrong to love."

Ready to drop your two cents? ;)