Imagine everyone in the world wearing only one colour shirt or eating the same food or listening to the same music! While asking you to imagine the world without tolerance, Suparna Sinha pitches in for a more tolerant world.                        

Tolerance is a very important virtue one should possess, but sadly today it seems to be missing in most of us – thanks to the headphone lifestyle of ours. But how is the headphone, and its slicker cousin, earphone, related to tolerance, you would ask.

If any particular song, podcast or mantra which we don’t want to listen is played, we quickly cover our ears with our earphones and shut the ‘noise’ out. Family members have different devices and their own earphones. Each one is busy listening or watching his or her own choice of ‘music’. What is entertainment for one is boredom to the other.

Right from school, we are told to have our own choice and to not follow the herd. We should have the freedom to ‘listen to our own stuff’. All that is very fine, my friend!

Where we go wrong is zero tolerance for the choice of others. If we desire to buy a blue shirt and wear it to office and our colleague wears a red one, we mentally tick him on his horrid choice of colour. You ought not to do that, right!

This world is such a beautiful place because of its diversity. Just imagine a world where everyone is wearing the same shade of colour as yours, wearing the same perfume, eating the same food, drinking the same beverage, or yes, listening to the same music. I bet you would want to jump off the nearest cliff out of ennui and monotone. Uniformity is lethal. Diversity is life. We are nature’s beings, full of multifariousness. So acceptance should be our second nature.

We can build up our dipping levels of tolerance by, say, watching a movie together. It could be any movie – a fairy tale or a classic. Get the family together, watch it and make it fun. Order some food, or fry some snacks. And sit with a mindset that you ARE going to enjoy it. Keep away your mobile phones for those two or three hours. And let it roll.

And yes, every member of the family should get a chance to play a movie. And then repeat the exercise. And if you have a full-time servant, ask him or her too. If you wish to get adventurous hit the theatres (not happening in these times). Whatever! The place doesn’t matter, the bonhomie does.  It will work wonders to raise your tolerance levels.

Then transform the movie to music, food or politics and religion. This way, if you wish your young niece to listen to some motivational speaker, you could do that. Let all the members of the family listen to the guru. Let all learn in their own special ways. Maybe, grandma could also get some insight. Anyways, you are never too old to learn. And then take tolerance from your immediate family to the universal family.

Easier said than done though! The challenges along the way…

At first you could make faces, be fidgety, ferret out your cellphone for a quick peek. Let it be that way. But slowly and slowly build on it.

Tolerance like all virtues is like a muscle; it needs to be exercised. Once you become more tolerant, you will be surprised to see the change in you. You will be calm, cool, and petty matters would not irk you anymore. You would start loving your job more, be friendlier with your colleague whom you first found to be irritable, and so on. And it pays rich dividends.

And teach your children when they need it most. This virtue is also needed to be taught at school. If the child is taught to be tolerant at an early age, he would somehow make himself ready for the world he grows into.

Life would be so much more vibrant and positive if we build up our tolerance muscle slowly and steadily. We can manage our emotions in a better manner, and keep away from thinking about trivial issues. Give more of your time and mental space to creative pursuits and all things good. So friends, start today. Be more accommodating and see the change. Just do it! Suparna’s blog is https://everpositive.blogspot.com/

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Charity. This word may provoke different reactions in different people. Some of us love to do charity just to make ourselves happy, for a sense of self-fulfillment. Some of us do so to prove that we are a notch higher than our peers, and show them that we can dispense off with a moderate sum of money. In short, we satisfy our egos.

Well, let’s face it! Most of us don’t think charity as our cup of tea. Most are not interested in charity; we feel that it is the responsibility of the government or the uber-rich to take care of the needy; we have enough number of people to spend our money on; we have to satisfy the material needs of our family, relatives, and friends, and are sincerely concerned about their welfare.

Where is the mental space to think about anybody else, let alone fulfill their monetary needs? That too a nameless person, whom we haven’t met, or will never meet again? Does anybody give us money for free? Never! We have to toil day in and day out to earn money. What is the use of feeding a hungry stomach when millions are dying of hunger in the world? Excuses galore!

Here is where one goes wrong my dear friend. If there are millions dying of hunger, then there are millions who fall sick due to over-eating. We are lucky to have more than enough food on our plates. Can’t we just share a little of what we have? It would fill some part of a hungry stomach.

You would say, it’s easier said than done. But I would want to reverse this. It’s easier done than said. So friends, first do it. Just find a way to feed a hungry one. It could be two slices of bread; that would mean a lot to a hungry person who is ready to end his yet another food-deprived day.

There is another argument put forth by people that beggars are lazy people. They are not ready to work. This I feel is a ridiculous statement. Do they have the opportunity to work? How many of us have told a destitute to get in our cars, taken them home or to a shop, and given them a job? How do we expect them to toil under the blazing sun, or icy chill without food in their stomachs?

So friends, instead of analyzing a beggar’s attitude, just feed him a paltry share of your food. It feels good. It really does. Just do it and see for yourself. When you see a hungry soul, just think how fortunate you are and feel privileged to share your fortune. Thank God that ‘He’ has given you this opportunity for good karma.

Charity is contagious. If you start it, others will follow suit. Slowly but surely, millions would go to bed satiated in their minds, and blessings in their hearts.

Make charity a way of life. Even if you share a page calling for donations to end hunger, you are being charitable. If you feel that it isn’t possible to reach out to the starving in Africa, you are wrong. There will be a way, if your will to do good to others is strong. New ideas would crop up, and if a wave of egalitarianism sweeps the world, governments and other organizations would rethink their strategies, or invent new ones. Food banks would be common, giving would be a way of life, and food would be like oxygen, ever available, never to deplete.

Is it too big to ask you? When all we have to do is part with a fraction of the food we eat every day, give it in the hands of a hungry child, watch his eyes twinkle, see the bright smile, and feel blessed. Just try being charitable for once, and you would never want to be the same old self again.

Suparna Sinha is an avid blogger. She feels that you have but one life. Make the most of it. Read books, reach out to the needy. There is never a good time to start, or am age when you gotta stop. Your time starts NOW! https://everpositive.blogspot.com/

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