Tolerance

Values of Free Expression

The value that I chose was Promoting Tolerance. The reason I chose this was because I recently read a book on the story of Matthew Shepard. He was a college student who was brutally beaten, tortured and left to die in a small town called Laramie. This took place in 1998. A big takeaway from the story was “Live and let live,” which was a motto of the town which wasn’t really followed until this incident happened. 

Matthew Shepard (Pictured Above)

Picture Retrieved From: NPR

I think that there is a huge difference between tolerating and accepting. For example, not everybody can accept gay people. Accepting is coming to terms with who someone is and what they believe in or love. The understanding of someone’s identity is acceptance. That is their opinion, and they get to choose what to believe. However, tolerance is a great policy. A tolerant society is not only a “better” society, but is less violent, more peaceful, and overall a better atmosphere and environment to be in. Tolerance is one’s ability to come to terms with the existence of the person, rather than the person’s identity or beliefs. It is unreasonable to demand that everybody be accepting of others. Although that is a sad reality, it is unfortunately the harsh truth. The ability to simply tolerate someone or something takes no effort and makes a huge difference.

This policy brings peace, saves lives and makes the world a better place. If someone were to decide to adopt this policy into their society, they could watch the hate crimes decrease. They could watch the threats decrease. This leads to an environment and atmosphere where people do not feel like they have to be friends with everyone, but they feel safe and able to express themselves. These people can feel free to be who they are, which is the type of world everyone should want to live in. 

 Picture Retrieved From: Arab News

Is our society tolerant? In some ways, I do believe that our society is starting to tolerate a lot more than we used to. However, this is not always the case. Last summer, my mom walked into my room and told me that someone I knew very well was arrested. A gay man in his twenties was going out to the bar in South Carolina with some friends. When some people found out he was gay, they spiked his drink with drugs. However, these weren’t “date rape” drugs of any kind. These drugs made him break into an attorney’s office and trash the place. Keep in mind, this man is one of the kindest, sweetest, most innocent people I have ever met, and he has the biggest heart. He would never do anything to hurt anyone on purpose. But he was arrested for on accounts for many things which the drugs made him do. He spent a few nights in jail, before my mom drove thirteen hours to bail him out. This is a perfect example of not being tolerant. This man was doing absolutely nothing wrong. He was simply unwinding, having a good time with his friends in the bar after a long week of work. Someone who was simply not tolerant of gay people decided to take everything away from him. He lost his job, a lot of money and his sanity for a little while. 

Picture Retrieved From: Ed Modo

Our society is tolerant, when they want to be tolerant. That is not the kind of society I want to live in.





Information From:

Matthew Shepard Foundation and Wikipedia