Intolerance!
Frankly, it’s a heavy word to an educated person who studied through some of the world’s greatest institutions gaining laurels, attaining success. Really, listening humbly to humble words and at the same time maintaining a firewall towards hatred is a skill in today’s hate instilled political environment fueled with fascism and populism.
I believe it’s the education where all the difference comes in. What is education all about? It’s about leaving your personal animosity, ego and anguish aside and climbing the ladders of friendliness, humbleness and understanding. Intolerance is when we try to brush aside the beliefs and ideas of someone else and try to justify the supremacy of one thought over the other.
I have been through times when I have seen some really polarised people in life. The frequent narrative they try to portray is the same what any political party or religious organisation would want to propagate. It’s about hatred. Polarisation is the basic prerequisite towards hatred. This polarity, however, comes in a society that believes in communal identity. This polarisation often is a resultant of denial that we carried through the dark ages of division.
Take an example of the partition where the seeds were sown in 1947, but as the national identities of Indians and Pakistanis started to get more deeply intact, the partition got significant. We often say that there is no or very less intolerance in India, which is right. If there is any, it is among those polarised individuals who believe in hatred. It’s among those ideals of populism and fascism that want their own community to rule.
But it’s not among those children going to their schools learning something new. It’s not a priority of a mother who wants to feed her child in the first place. But will it magnify? Will our cultural identities penetrate our social structure? Only time will tell!
I never want polarisation in my country, so the change will come from my side. My identity is humanity so should be of anyone who believes in humility, unity and tolerance. I think intolerance is taking shape, but it’s really the time not to magnify it, rather, let’s crush it at the stage it is. Let’s recognise it! But humbly. And let’s answer, not with hate, but with friendliness. Let’s not divide again!