Who is the true foreigner among you? Is it the one who looks or talks or acts differently from you? Or is it the one to whom you relate or do not relate? Or perhaps still, is it your enemy?
Who deserves your care or love or tolerance? Is it only those who cannot defend themselves? Or is no distinction made between those who can and those who cannot?
I see many define those who need the most lifting up as those who are the most vulnerable. Those who by appearance or circumstance or what have you have limited ability to resist the manipulations of others. Fair enough. They definitely need help.
However, a thought. I’ve heard it said once that “The past is a foreign country. People do things differently over there.” And it definitely is true in my experience. What on earth were my ancestors thinking? How could they have possibly done X, Y or Z? How could they have let such injustice go unpunished, or even worse, inflict it upon others? Surely they could not have had the same values as mine. Were they even human with the horrors they inflicted upon others and the seemingly alien degree of their thoughts?
Yes. Of course they were.
It grieves me to see that many so-called proponents of tolerance do not tolerate those who truly cannot defend themselves, namely, those in the past.
Do you only tolerate those who agree with you? Is that real tolerance?