I was sitting on the train today. Or I guess I should be saying tonight. But that's besides the point. As I sat there, I was watching lights that seemed to move away from the car windows, as if we were the ones standing still.
I thought about the way that this country deals with anything that doesn't fit into a box. Race, religions, and whatever else makes you different. This country hasn't changed very much from day one. We've just built up some tolerance. I mean, think about it. The tolerance to sit next to someone who looks different than you in public, or in private is fine. Maybe knowing that there's a legal consequence for doing something on the basis of some serious fucked up discrimination says something. That does not change the majority's mentalities. That's not changing America, or the entire world for that matter.
But then again, I compare this country to others and realize that the tolerance we have here, the way things are implemented, don't seem so bad. So is tolerance the most we can ask, or expect from others? Should it be this way? How is that supposed to change?
According to the dictionary on my dashboard, the word tolerance has its roots in late Middle English; denoting the action of bearing hardship, or the ability to bear pain and hardship. It goes even deeper into Old French from Latin root tolerat- meaning 'endured.' But today tolerance is understood to be the ability or willingness to take something, such as behaviors or opinions that one does not necessarily agree with. This could be from corruption to religion. (Depending on your views, that could be the same thing..)
What do we edure? Is it that dramatic of an otherwise chosen act to accept others? Or is this suggesting that no one is ever truly accepted, merely tolerated. I know tolerance can't be all we want, but is it all we need? I would say so. Tolerance is all we need to move forward, to have some kind of crutch for a minority to rest on. I hope that it's a bridge from crude discrimination to ultimate equality. I'm not asking for utopia, I'm allowing myself to believe there's something better than this. Without faith, the revolution dies in seconds.
This isn't a news update or commentary. It's a reality check to possibilities. Outcomes come later. How can you, or I change the world? How would we do it tomorrow? That's the meat in this sandwich.
More soon.
-J
