Life Advice Lifestyle

The Importance of Tolerance and Respect in the Modern World

There are dozens of things that make us unique, like hairstyle, music tastes, or food preferences. Some qualities and characteristics are solely individual and don’t concern our attitude towards people around us, while others are significant and important for building our view of the world and relations with it, such as sincerity, loyalty, respect, and tolerance.

 

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The latter two are the qualities that form the basis of modern society. The world isn’t as wide as it once was. Borders and boundaries are blurred, bringing people from different cultures and nations together and forming a multicultural environment we’ve never seen before. The views on traditional relationships and family are changing too. How important are tolerance and respect these days?

 

The Role Of Tolerance Today

The modern world is a world of dialogue and multilingualism of cultures. We’re on the path to expanding the connections between various countries and peoples, and the rapid growth of cultural exchanges and direct contacts between social groups, social movements, and people proves it. The globe speaks different languages, and misunderstandings are inevitable. With all this diversity, tolerance serves as an instrument that helps to overcome cultural differences when we can’t understand what causes them.

Let’s take such a hot topic as religion as an example. In a perfect world, what you believe in is a personal matter, but in reality, it takes one critical comment about religion on social media to hurt someone’s feelings and start a fight. There are only two ways to end religious disputes once and for all: either to merge all religions and beliefs into one or abandon them in favor of atheistic views. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see one of these options working, so tolerance is the only way to resolve religion-related conflicts and arguments peacefully.

Another aspect that causes controversy is rapidly changing family values. It seems like some part of the male population will never accept the growing role of women in relationship building. Families led by women are still frowned upon, but thanks to tolerance, the tendency is changing.

The Role Of Respect

If tolerance is the instrument, then respect is the mechanism that makes it work. Respect has always been a crucial part of our daily lives, surrounding us on multiple levels. We respect age, wisdom, laws, traditions, and so on. In our time, “respect” is no longer a concept but feeling. We respect someone or something because it should be granted it. For instance, we give respect to the law because we have to or disrespect some people just because we can.

It’s impossible to learn tolerance without learning how to respect. And that’s a tricky task too because of a strong belief that respect must be earned. Some folks just can’t understand why they should tolerate sexual minorities or feminists simply because they’re out there fighting for their rights. While the lack of respect towards others makes it harder to accept different views, nations, and cultures, the lack of it in a relationship can ruin a family, as it implies freedom and trust between partners. There are too many ways to lose respect for the significant other. Selfish actions, secrets, or, conversely, oversharing in relationships destroy confidence and trust that form respect.

So, without respect, there’s no tolerance, and without tolerance, the world wouldn’t be as colorful and diverse as it is today. Together, the two create a subtle balance between love and hate, allowing us to stay open for new sensations and experiences.

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