Tolerance, It’s Important
by Sara Forrest, Commission member
Our parish are donating to Aid to the Church in Need for their work in Pakistan. It upset me because when I lived in Pakistan 60 years ago it seemed to be a tolerant place. I didn’t feel threatened and wasn’t bullied or name called at school because I was different from the other pupils. I wondered what had changed.
As I pondered the situation I remembered that we didn’t stay for our allotted two years because, while we were enroute for a visit to UK, India shelled Karachi where we lived. I was 7 and was most worried that I was missing out on the excitement of hiding under the table like my school friends! I know better now.
I then heard people talking about the introduction of TV into the House of Commons and the consensus seemed to be that people now speak there to get clips per their social media and the days of debates and MPs who spoke for long periods and successfully changed minds had gone. Then I read an article on how people who used to get ‘lost in a book’ have found it difficult to do so now that they’re used to short reads on the internet. The solution was to spend 20 minutes a day for a few weeks reading a book in order to redevelop the skill and engage deeply with the text.
Maybe those snap like/dislike judgements mean that we are used to snap judgements and to discount those who are different by appearance or behaviour? Maybe the fear of embarrassment, because of that difference, holds us back from finding out what we have in common?
Sadly the tension between India and Pakistan remains. Injustices from their Colonial past and a lack of political will to forge a more co-operative neighbourly relationship drive stories that feed fear. It is all too common for politicians to use fear of difference to create a cohesive force that increases their hold on power and the oppression of their people.
Perhaps this Lent we could carefully contemplate how we behave towards those who we perceive to be different and why that is so? If we all do that and develop our tolerance and perhaps curiosity, about those who are different we can improve the peace in our local community.
Perhaps when we se something that makes us angry on the internet we could take a step back and think about who might be influencing the post? Maybe they want to channel your anger to gain a bigger following? Who gains from the negative emotion they create?.
There are many Gospel stories about Jesus making a point of reaching out to those who were poor, or different and those who were in dire straits, we can follow his good example especially during Lent.
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