The previous post was on my mind all day yesterday and well into the night. It was probably caused by an incident I recently had with someone whose opinion of people that were different from him was not good. I got way up on my well worn soap box on the subject of intolerance.
Yesterday and last night I wrestled with the matter. What right do I have to be intolerant of intolerance? He was a man, a product of his environment. He had as much control over his actions and speech as Howdy Doody did over his. I spent a large portion of the night reviewing my own failings. The list became a litany and the guilt started piling up.
I will be intolerant but I will only be intolerant of myself. I cannot change the world but there is some hope that I can change myself. Several years ago someone did a study of human DNA and claimed that they could track it back thousands of generations to a single female. So there was an Eve. She may have been a wandering homonid, down from the trees, constantly fleeing the threat of fang and claw. Through her we are all brothers and sisters. In her memory, I will direct the fangs and claws of my intolerance only to myself. Any time I need to view the weaknesses and foibles of mankind, I need only to look in the mirror. So I will sit by the side of the road and be _ ______ __ ___. We don't need another prophet, voicing his list of coming disasters and punishments and accusations to the empty wind but we do need a wise and kindly mentor, guiding us slowly to true humanity by example and with a rational voice.
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