What is a TOLERANCE?
“ The highest result of education is tolerance.” Helen Keller
“ Tolerance and Patience should not be read as signs of weakness. They are signs of strength.”.. Dalai Lama
Tolerance is the willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.: the ability to accept, experience, or survive something harmful or unpleasant.
Tolerance is a personality trait. It is associated with psychological resilience which arises from the ability to tolerate stress in various forms.
Tolerance is about accepting people for who they are- not about taking their lousy behaviour.
Volumes can be packed to explain the meaning and applications of the word, TOLERANCE.
My neighbour has a pet Labrador. The two-year-old canine gets an itch in the wee NIGHT hours when I am in my dreams. He goes on a non-stop barking spree, screwing my sleep for good. ‘ Shut up you son of a bitch!’ I shout from my window each night. The owner was upset and complained about the abuse of his dog.
Well, is he not a “son of a bitch?”. If not, he, then who? ME?’
I almost slapped a fellow passenger on the Kolkata bound train when he went into snoring raptures.
‘What’s your problem, if I snore? You shift to another seat. I have also paid for it.’ He shouted.
“Well!, do I have an answer?” “No!” I plugged my ears in and covered myself with the smelling quilt. Still, sleep eluded, and snoring only got worse with the chugging train.
The gentleman on the officer’s seat in the office kept digging out his wretched nose, and after looking at the pick with great interest, wiped it with his trousers. The horror came when I had to shake hands with no guts to ask him to wash them. An important document was to be signed by his filthy hand.
NOW, THIS IS TOLERATING and ‘BEING TOLERANT’.
Who teaches us to be tolerant?
It is a personality trait and can vary with different people.
THE ACID TEST TO TOLERANCE IS IN THE PRESENT TIMES. The times of lockdown.
To be honest, this is not tolerance; this is DEALING.
Same faces . . . same dull routine. . . same food . . . the same ambience, 24/7.
There is no place to run and find solitude. The overdose of nihilism also nurtures frustration, irritation, arguments, fights and quarrels.
The real war is not with the VIRUS, it is within itself.
How do we endure the curse of confinement between the four walls?
How can one cope with professional, financial and emotional uncertainty?
How do you deal with a routine like this? The same goes for day and night.
It is understandably tough for people confined to small flats and premises; No matter what talents they try to discover in themselves and post on social media,
THE GOING IS TOUGH.
From cooking and washing, and gardening and music; trying your hand at everything still leaves you wonderstruck, what to do next? How to kill time that seems to be stretched for more than just twenty-four hours.
People are doing webinars, online classes and tombolas, ludos etc. They have developed a voracious appetite to watch soaps and movies.
Sir, this is human nature, and nothing can suffice to contain the CRAVING and URGE to venture in the midnight cafes and soaking in liquor, sitting on the high stool of a neo-opened rooftop.
It is torture to change the daily routine to something that is forced upon for an unknown period.
‘The person who wins is Alexender.’. . .
Fire on all cylinders and stir your Angels to guard you against irritations and eccentricities.
Learn to tolerate people, happenings and boredom, efficiently.
A friend once commented, ‘Anuj, your tolerance is too low, you are judgemental and moody, and you react very fast.’
Ahem, yes, my friend please come and sit at a TWO-meter distance with a facemask on, you will see how tolerant I have become.
CAUTION: Stay still, ’til the coffee lasts OR I may bite you in the wrong place. Then don’t complain; Anuj bites.
So honest I like it