Tolerance and intolerance


By Jim Killebrew

[December 26, 2014]  If I would happen to get a job with a person of means, a person of great wealth, and additionally, in my job became the steward of that person's wealth, I would have a responsibility to handle their wealth appropriately. Suppose I used my position to create for myself a salary that was many times over the amount of the average salary of most people. Additionally, what if I built into my employer's wealth a clause that required a payment of my full salary at my retirement to be paid for the rest of my life. Would that be the right thing to do? Would most people think that would be okay?

Well, just think of the Congressional members who have voted for themselves a salary that is many times higher than most people's salary, and have voted for themselves their full salary amount for the rest of their lives after leaving office, even if their time in office was for only one term. Have they not acted in the way that most people reading the above paragraph would think is the absolute wrong thing to do?

The American citizen really needs to stay alert regarding what their leaders do and the laws they make. If not, the citizens will find themselves under stringent laws with expected compliance from which the lawmakers have exempted themselves. Compare your health plan with the health plan of the members of Congress, the Administration and the Supreme Court Members. That, my friends, is tyranny and dictatorial. It starts with developing a class of privilege. It continues with division of classes of people and culminates in class envy and a movement toward disregarding the rule of law.

Today in America there are millions of generational people who were raised and socialized in Traditional versus Non-traditional values. Those values have created attitudes and life-styles of living that almost automatically create a tension between the various groups in America.

If you grew up in America and you learned to respect the law and treat it as a friend that protects you and your family and makes them safe because society must have a set of rules in order for the people to live peaceably with each other, you are most likely traditional.

If you grew up in America and you learned to fear the police because you disregarded the rules of society and likewise feared those who were charged with the responsibility to protect the people from the dangers of law-breakers, you are most likely non-traditional.

For sure, in the decade of the 1950's America was culminating a divisiveness through segregation "Jim Crow" laws that unfairly relegated entire groups of people through suppression of rights. These were recognized as unjust laws when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called attention to those laws through his non-violent protest efforts. Dr. King was a great leader who had excellent command of his words, a deep understanding of his personal, spiritual faith, and a sense of what was right and wrong in America regarding ethnic relationships. He understood that we are all part of the human race and everyone had the same rights of truth, freedom, and justice. He recognized the importance of leaders having good moral character, honesty, and integrity. He called then for all people everywhere to look and act upon the content of a person's character, rather than the color of their skin. That is as important now as it was then. Unfortunately, the leaders we have in the 21st Century, both politically and human rights, are not cut from the same stock as Dr. King. But in today's world we continue to have the same challenges.

Our challenge in today's society is to help those who are traditional and those who are non-traditional find a way to synthesize their staunch positions into a pattern of life-style that recognizes the rights of all others without compromising their own personal rights. It seems to me that throughout history that has always been the struggle between love and hate.

If we cannot achieve that balance, could we at least try to strike a balance between tolerance and intolerance?

[By JIM KILLEBREW]