Tolerance
and intolerance
By Jim Killebrew
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[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? |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Dec/26/images/ads/current/melocreme_bcv_122007.png) 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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Dec/26/images/ads/current/best%20friends%20animal%20hospital%20bc062711.png)
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.
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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]
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