I truly believe the roots of all evil are 1. money and 2. intolerance. See the thing with intolerance is that to combat it, you don't even have to participate, talk about or enjoy the thing you can't stand, but simply tolerate it.
Tolerating is the simplest of all tasks, requiring only that you eat up your disputes for the sake of peace. Of course, if the thing you can't stand is hurting people, then there are grounds to stand up against it, but if the thing that you hate is someone's religion, someone's blog or even change of hair colour then the best thing you can do is stay shutum.
To discriminate against someone for anything is to believe that you are better than them. Does this negative emotion or way of thinking serve you? Are you putting energy into gossiping about someone when you could be putting it into bettering yourself? Do you really want or need that negativity in or around you?
Everyone in the world has bitched or moaned about people or groups of people before (we're all hypocrites) but noticing the error of your ways or making a small conscious effort to be kinder is the first step towards not just tolerance but acceptance- to realise that you are no better than anybody else regardless of beliefs or ways of life, perhaps one of the most noble things a human can do.
I sound like the butterflies and rainbows girl from Mean Girls, I know (see here haha). There are too many people on Earth for there to never be conflicts of interest but change starts in your smallest social circles! Choose not to be unkind about someone. If they could do with your feedback or you want to bring something to their attention, do it in a way that doesn't hurt or exploit them.
They are just as human as you are and if they don't express kindness themselves, chances are they were never taught to value it, or have never received any.
The world we live in is too small and life is too short to go around belittling people- one day you might be on the other end of the stick and you can imagine how that feels. Anger creates anger just as kindness creates kindness! A chain of happy days starts with you! Just as women should uplift and celebrate women, on our most human level we should support and praise each other if we ever want peace to reign over war.
Not putting yourself on a pedestal (whether you realise it or not) is fundamental in our steps towards acceptance.
So kill it with kindness. Kill the voice in your head that thrives on bitching and gossiping by giving someone a genuine compliment. Accept constructive criticism without taking personal offence and learn that even you have made mistakes that you don't deserve to be pulled up on a thousand times. List what you are grateful for to take your mind away from what other people are doing and work on the pitfalls in yourself instead of discriminating against someone else's.
If all else fails, and nobody is getting hurt, ignore the thing that you hate. Ignore it completely because there are a million things worthy of your attention instead and for gods sake- don't put snide comments on the internet. You might find yourself brushed over for amazing opportunities (or in a disappointing meeting with your manager).
What are your thoughts on this?
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