TOLERANCE

A sage had a holy bath in the river Ganges and got out
of the river. Suddently a rowdy who was chewing
beeda (betal leaves) spat on him. The sage did not
scold him but bathed again in Ganges and came to the
bank of the river. Again and again the rowdy spat on
the sage and the sage with great tolerance had a holy
dip in the river Ganges again and again without uttering
even a single word against the rowdy. Because of the
patience of the sage, the rowdy realized his own folly
and felt ashamed of it. He fell flat at the feet of the
Sage and begged pardon. But the Sage said “ I am to
fall at your feet and honour you. In a single day is it
possible to any one to bathe more than hundred
times in the holy river? It was possible to me
because of you. So I am bound to thank you “.
The rowdy said, “Swamiji, there is a millionaire
in this city who is jealous over your fame and
familiarity. He instigated me to do so. He
expected that you would scold me and fight
with me and your reputation would get
spoiled. If it happens so, he assured to give
me a lot of gold. As I was greedy I insulted
you Swamiji. Please forgive me”. So saying
the rowdy bowed before the sage. After
listening to the statement of the rowdy, the
sage said, “ Aha…. I was not aware of this
fact earlier. If I had come to know about it
before hand, I would have fought with you and
you could have got gold from the millionaire”.
 Do we need any other example more than this for
tolerance and generosity? The root-cause for all the
troubles and problems is the absence of tolerance. If
there is tolerance, there will not be any problem on
Religion, community, caste and creed. There will not
be any problem in the office, at home or any where
else. The most important quality to be possessed by
all who wish to attain success in life is TOLERANCE.
Tolerance is the inborn quality among most of
the world famous great personalities. To cite
examples, we can mention the name of Socrates who
lived patiently with a wife who used to always abuse
him and secondly Milton who lived with his cruel
daughters who were always rough and tough with
him. Socrates was an expert in exposing tolerance
with a sense of humour.
Once Socrates was chatting with his friends in front of
his house. His wife was scolding him with harsh
words. Socrates continued to discuss with his friends
without any botheration. His irritated wife poured on
him a bucket of water from the upstairs. Socrates
casually squeezed his wet dress and said to his
friends, “ So far it was thundering, now it is raining ”.
We need not search anywhere outside for the
people who stand as examples for Tolerance. They
are in each and everyone's family. Take yourself as
an example. There may be a lot of defects among the
people who are with you in the family. They may
possess some qualities which you do not like. They
may do many things which you dislike. Are you not
tolerant to all such things? As you and your family
members are tolerant, you live patiently. Because of
that only you are enjoying a peaceful life.
On what basis you say that you are enjoying a peaceful
life? Do you say that you have a lot of problems in
your family and you live quarrelling daily? Then it
means that you or your family members do not have
tolerance. Develop the quality of tolerance among
yourselves. If tolerance exists among all, life will be
peaceful. If the husband, wife, brothers, sisters and in-
laws have the sense of tolerance, the whole Family will
be a peaceful one. All the problems depend upon the
way in which we handle a word or incident. If problems
are approached with tolerance, there will not be any
problem at all. Since a very long time problems prevail
in all the families. Due to the absence of tolerance, it
seems that the Joint family system may come to an end
very soon. A situation may arise in which the term
JOINT FAMILY will get rid of the society in a short
period of time.
Now a days a bad temperament spreads among all
types of people of all age groups. The habit of not
respecting others' thoughts and feelings, to be
adamant to do anything as per one's own will and
pleasure etc. exist every where. If there is
tolerance among people, this type of evils will
disappear. A Question may arise in the mind of
some people, “IS TOLERANCE ESSENTIAL?”
This world is not created for us alone. All have
got equal right to live in it. All have got equal
right to live as per their will and pleasure without
affecting others. Many matters and incidents
which we do not like are taking place around us.
We are to tolerate those matters and incidents as
long as they do not affect us.
 Just imagine what will happen if there is no sense of
tolerance among people. If a person does not like the
colour of your shirt, he may quarrel with you. If there is no
tolerance, what will happen if a person talks against the
opinion of another? It may lead to a quarrel or clash. The
base for all the matters is tolerance. For example our
ambition will be to listen the news or to watch a film show in
the Television. At the same time the tiny tot of our home will
be watching the cartoon channel. The kid will be very
adamant and will not allow us to change the channel. At
this situation, though we don't like the cartoon channel as
there is no other go, we will tolerate the same. We too will
join with the child and watch the cartoon channel. Similarly,
in our office if our manager entrusts a work to us, though we
dislike the work, we will complete it with great tolerance.
The great philosopher Hendry Wandyke says "Estimate
others on the basis of their best qualities, Don't estimate
them on the basis of their bad qualities" .
 Daily we come across a number of people. We cannot say
that all will be with 100% good qualities. They will be with
good qualities as well as some bad qualities. We should
take their good qualities alone into account. We should
make friendship with them not on the basis of their
weakness, but on the basis of their strength. People with
tolerance will ignore the weakness of others. They will
recognize only the strength of others.
All the people we come across are filled with good
qualities as well as bad qualities. A person is estimated on
the basis of the quality he exposes more in quantity. He is
estimated by others "Good" if he exposes more good
qualities and "Bad" if he exposes more bad qualities.
There is no one who is 100% good or 100% bad. We come
to a conclusion Whether a person is good or bad on the
basis of our contact and experiences with him. Others
estimate us in the same manner. So let us expose our
good qualities as far as possible.
No country or race or religion or
language is a barrier to
Tolerance.
Tolerance Wise people will
not like to derive a kind of
pleasure by pointing out
others' defects.
defects Are we wise
or not? The answer for this
question is with us only.
Courtesy: Dinamalar Computer Maler

Translated by C.Chandrasekaran, M.A.,B.Ed.,

Produced by Na.PRASANNAN, 94880-19015,