be more tolerant of others

In general, I think I’m pretty good about accepting people for what they are. I went through a stage, esp during the elections when people seemed very ignorant. For instance, they would vote on a candidate because he was of a certain party or because their church told them so. They would spread rumors about the candidates they didn’t like. I personally don’t care who you vote for but at least have a good, intelligent reason for doing so. I guess my tolerance wavered a bit… my New Years resolution was to just let things go if I don’t agree with them. Sometimes I have been a little to confrontational but only b/c I wanted to debate something, not in a bad way.

There is one thing I admired about Meaghan. Meaghan never judged anyone. They were who they were. She accepted that. She had friends of all races and all incomes and all types of backgrounds and interested. I really admired that. Many people have a big problem doing that. I think I have a pretty diverse crowd but mine’s more int’l than anything. She put my crowd to shame! She was amazing like that and seeing and meeting all of them at her funeral really made me see how much progress I still need to accomplish. Meaghan was a free-spirit who was always smiling and a lot of that came from her not having any judgments or biases about people. She just enjoyed them for who they were. (Meaghan was 27 and killed by a drunk driver on Christmas morning).

Apparently I sometimes jump on people for little things or make comments that I can’t believe someone didn’t know this or that. I am making a conscious effort to tone it down a bit. I do respect other people’s opinions and not sure where this came from. I do know that we all have our strengths and why I am keying in on weaknesses I have no clue. So I am going to sit back and take a couple seconds before I react or answer someone to make sure I am not coming across as an ass! ;)

Maybe sometimes not having tolerance for someone is ok. A couple weeks ago I was at a marketing conference in Palm Springs and someone I knew made a comment about targeting certain groups. She told the audience that targeting was important and that you had to know who you are targeting. She went on to point out that, for instance, the group of immigrants protesting in LA would be a group to whom you would not target because of their low education. It was not the forum to dispute her comments but she couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I would bet most of the foreigners were educated and probably knew more languages than most Americans. Just because someone is working as a janitor or in a kitchen of a restaurant does not make them uneducated. They are trying to make a living and a better life for their family, so working in the US for $10/hr doing “dirty” work versus being a professional in Mexico or another country for $1.50/hr is a big difference. But it doesn’t make them any less educated. And as stated by Pres Bush last night, I support that America is made of many different nationalities but those people need to go through the proper channels to enter the country. Regardless of their legal status, the point is made. I just wish people wouldn’t be so quick to judge when they have not taken the time to meet or learn more about that person or group of people.

I don’t know where this started but I sometimes don’t have tolerance for others. And it’s not like it has anything to with race or where you are from. It’s more about the ignorance of a person- not knowing facts or being closed to knew things or ideas. I sometimes look at someone and see they haven’t changed (physically) since the 80s and I just want to do something about it but that’s who they are. I have to step back and not be so quick to judge but sometimes it’s hard. And it’s tough when people just assume you’re going to do what they did- get married, have kids, move to the burbs, become boring! I don’t think so… or at least I have no intentions of it. So I just need to let some of these things go… I was thinking back to like 10 yrs ago and I seemed much more open but maybe I was more ignorant. Sort of funny when I think about it.