However tolerant I am, that will be gone, the moment I am no more. And so, for all. But, if the society is tolerant, however intolerant I am, tolerance shall reappear, the moment I am gone.
A good question therefore is, how to make the society tolerant.
A society is constituted by abstract citizens, whose fundamental aim is to maximize one's own benefit. (Our system of bringing up the next generation essentially is nothing else but efforts to make us forget this aim!)
People can be divided into two, those who have their eyes set on the present, and those who look far ahead. The former always look for immediate gain, and the latter shall have a wider view.
For both of these, one will choose to be tolerant or not, based on the comparative benefit that can accrue. See, it is possible for an intolerant one to maximize one's benefits, only in a tolerant society. Hence, if we find intolerant people everywhere, it is an indication the the society is a tolerant one.
The West and the East are good examples. Societies of the west are open to change, but an average westerner is not. But look to the east. Societies full of individuals that revel at the traditional, and a society that has accepted the most.
I therefore feel, we need not find fault with our society on account of the levels of tolerance shown by its members. We in fact should be letting such individual expressions flourish, knowing well that the society will gladly and wholeheartedly accept a change, as and when it happens.
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