From the song 'Brave' by Sara Bareilles:

You can be amazing,
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug,
You can be the outcast,
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love,
Or you can start speaking up.

Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle 'neath your skin,
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins,
But I wonder what would happen if you....

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out,
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say,
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4

"Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal."
― Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies 

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."
- Thomas Mann

"No human trait deserves less tolerance in everyday life, and gets less, than intolerance."
- Giacomo Leopardi

"Don't get so tolerant that you tolerate intolerance."
- Bill Maher

#MainMessageForToday
Tolerance should have limits. Do not tolerate evil or the intolerant.

From the song 'Love Don't Hate' by David Archuleta:

Don't know what I was thinking,
I messed up and now we're sinking,
Said things I didn't mean,
Hard to watch your heart breaking.

Words cut like razor blades and left you with a scar,
Made a mistake I can't erase,
Oh I was wrong,
Took you for granted,
And I can't stand it.
Shouldn't be that way,
'Cause love don't hate, hate.
Love don't hate, hate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kF2zp6mi1M

"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival."
- Rene Dubos

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
- Doug Floyd

"There is a beauty that arises from withholding judgment and evading comparison, a grace in not demanding consensus."
- David Romtvedt

"How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance--the one value that is indispensable in creating community."
- Barbara Jordan

#MainMessageForToday
With tolerance there is less conflict and more harmony.

From the song 'One Love' by Bob Marley:

One Love! One Heart!
Let's get together and feel all right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdB-8eLEW8g

"Cultivate your own capabilities, your own style. Appreciate the members of your family for who they are, even though their outlook or style may be miles different from yours. Rabbits don't fly. Eagles don't swim. Ducks look funny trying to climb. Squirrels don't have feathers. Stop comparing. There's plenty of room in the forest."
- Chuck Swindoll

"The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own."
- Eric Hoffer

"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature."
- Voltaire

"So how do we solve this ancient problem? How can we not just tolerate someone who believes differently than we do, but actually respect them for those beliefs? Because nothing less than that will do. It can’t. Simply tolerating someone who believes differently than we do isn’t enough. 'Accepting' them isn’t enough. Having true and abiding peace with them means loving them. And that means respecting them. Because love without respect isn’t real love at all. It’s at best condescending patronization.
- John Shore

"Let us not speak of tolerance. This negative word implies grudging concessions by smug consciences. Rather, let us speak of mutual understanding and mutual respect.
- Father Dominique Pire

"Tolerance implies a respect for another person, not because he is wrong or even because he is right, but because he is human."
- John Cogley Commonweal

#MainMessageForToday
Tolerance and respect go hand in hand. It is easier to tolerate someone when you respect them.

Where there is love, there is usually tolerance/acceptance.....

"I don't care who you are,
Where you're from,
What you did.
As long as you love me."
- From the song 'As Long As You Love Me' by Backstreet Boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gl2QnHNpkA

"We will never know the difference that can be made in our life and the lives of strangers unless we choose to be open to all possibilities."
- Chelle Thompson

"Tolerance can lead to learning something."
- Jakob Dylan

"Man is always inclined to be intolerant towards the thing, or person, he hasn't taken the time adequately to understand."
- Robert R. Brown

"Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you."
- Timothy Keller

"Almost everything can be tolerated - as long as we don’t know what we want."
- Vikrant Parsai

"It is easy to be tolerant of the principles of other people if you have none of your own."
- Herbert Samuel

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions."
- G. K. Chesterton

#MainMessageForToday
Once you take a stand for something, you are less likely to be tolerant of people and things that have or take a different stance. But, this does not mean you should mistreat them.

Nobody's perfect....

'Nobody's Perfect' duet by Jessie J and Vince:
https://youtu.be/f0NnEDsPErM

"Tolerance is nothing more than patience with boundaries."
- Shannon L. Alder

"A major advantage of age is learning to accept people without passing judgment."
- Liz Carpenter

"It takes a disciplined person to listen to convictions which are different from their own."
- Dorothy Fuldman

"True love means infinite tolerance for each others differences."
- M. K. Soni

"TRUE tolerance is loving your enemy, accepting their differences and remaining humble."
― Denise Stark

"Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself."
- Robert G. Ingersoll

#MainMessageForToday
When you accept people for who they are (their faults, different opinions etc.), you are being tolerant. Mature and disciplined people tend to be more tolerant.

Not thinking about differences....

From 'Black or White' by Michael Jackson: 

If you're thinking of being my baby,
It don't matter if you're black or white.
If you're thinking of being my brother,
It don't matter if you're black or white.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2AitTPI5U0

"Tolerance and celebration of individual differences are the fire that fuels lasting love."
- Tom Hannah

"Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you."
- Timothy Keller

"Genuine tolerance does not mean ignoring differences as if differences made no difference. Genuine tolerance means engaging differences within a bond of civility and respect."
- Richard John Neuhaus

"Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them."
- Joshua Loth Liebman

"Tolerance, which is one form of love of neighbor, must manifest itself not only in our personal relations, but also in the arena of society as well. In the world of opinion and politics, tolerance is that virtue by which liberated minds conquer the evils of bigotry and hatred. Tolerance implies more than forbearance or the passive enduring of ideas different from our own. Properly conceived, tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them. Tolerance quickens our appreciation and increases our respect for our neighbor’s point of view. It goes even further; it assumes a militant aspect when the rights of an opponent are assailed. Voltaire’s dictum, 'I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,' is for all ages and places the perfect utterance of the tolerant ideal."
― Joshua Loth Liebman

"Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with you; until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire; until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor happy."
- Napoleon Hill

Theme for the week 10/18 - 10/24: Tolerance.