TOLERANCE

  TOLERANCE

Of the many human virtues, tolerance is nature’s gift to stay cool and ward off anger and hypertension. But, to muster and master the art of tolerance is hard to say the least. Some approaches can help our attaining the right level of tolerance.

The most basic requirement is to cultivate the habit of looking at an opinion from the other man’s point of view. So to say, one needs to perceive clearly that there are different perceptions to an issue.

Carefully considering the emotional restrictions that the other person clings to - helps our sympathizing with him /her, instead of ‘branding’ the person as biased in attitude. Ironically, the one who lacks tolerance is as much biased as are the adherents to respective viewpoints.

Still, tolerance does not mean that we subscribe to the views of the opponents. Tolerance gives the advantage of holding our ground, even as we can raise arguments to convince the validity of our stand.

Inadequacy or low tolerance invariably raises the pitch of the argument in terms of decibel. In driving the idea home, hot words come out instead of polite suggestions. 

There is a degree of slant to bias which causes low tolerance and aggressive postures while rebutting the other point of view.

So, avoidance of bias is a step to develop tolerance to view points. To ward off bias, correct analysis is a prerequisite. Thus, tolerance is a derivative rather than its being a natural attitude of a personality.          

Often tolerance is mistaken for timidity

Thus, it is logical to present one’s views in clear and emphatic terms to dispel the scope of a wrong label. Clear and emphatic terms literally frighten the opponents more by the novelty of use than by any high decibel tone of aggression.