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CREATING HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS
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about harmony among diverse needs, ideas, thoughts and interests. The vital element of harmony is tolerance.
Intolerance in a society is the sum total of the intolerance of its individual members. Bigotry, stereotyping, stigmatizing, insults and racial jokes are examples of individual expressions of intolerance to which some people are subjected daily. Intolerance breeds intolerance. It leaves its victims in pursuit of revenge. In order to fight intolerance, individuals should become aware of the link between their behaviour and the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence in society. Each one of us should begin by asking: Am I a tolerant person? Do I stereotype people? Do I reject those who are different from me? Do I blame my problems on them?
What is tolerance? Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.4 It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is harmony in difference. Tolerance is a moral duty. Tolerance is the virtue that makes peace possible, and contributes to the replacement of the culture of war by a culture of peace.
Tolerance is, above all, an active attitude prompted by the recognition of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. Tolerance is to be exercised not only by individuals but more so by social groups and governments. What is intolerance? Intolerance is everything that tolerance is not—it is narrow-mindedness, prejudice and fanaticism.
Education is the most effective means of preventing intolerance. The first step in tolerance education should be to teach people what their shared rights and freedoms are, so that they may be respected, and to promote the will to protect those of others. Education for tolerance should be considered as an urgent imperative. It is necessary to promote systematic and rational tolerance teaching methods
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