Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "The Journey: A Calendar Book

View Allen James' trailer for The Journey: A Calendar Book on YouTube by clicking the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzIjcgN4VP0

Calendar Books by Allen James' reading for July 15th is taken from our feature Calendar Book for 2014, The Journey: A Calendar Book...

"Be accepting" (James, 2012).

There are some things in this world for which we can express "tolerance", but there are far more of which we should be "accepting".

One of the college courses I teach is Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity in America. There isn't one of the 16 weeks the course meets I don't mention the importance of our being accepting in lieu of tolerant.

Tolerance lends itself to sounding as if, although we give the appearance of being accepting, we do so with our guard up. We will tolerate an action or individual, but we do not embrace the action or individual.

There’s something about the word, tolerance, which makes me think “putting up with”, or “dealing with.” Saying, “I’m tolerant of ....,” is like saying, “I put up with .....” I know this is probably not what most people mean when they say they are tolerant of certain things/people, but this is what it sounds like to me. We tolerate the heat here in Missouri. We tolerate our neighbors who like to fight in the street every weekend. We tolerate things which are irksome, but we must suffer through each because we live on this planet.

Acceptance, while a bit more favorable, is still a fine line. I don’t agree with so and so, but I accept them as human beings and I realize they have a valid opinion. I don’t accept when certain people try to force their beliefs on me or force their arcane laws into government, but I understand why they want to live their own lives the way they do. I do accept them as people, and there are many whom I love. We may teach our children certain individuals have a set of beliefs by which they live their lives, and ours are different, but we make sure my kids know loving people is the most important thing they can do in this world to show acceptance.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines acceptance as: “to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable [...]” (merriam-webster.com). This is the definition I like.

There are things in this world which are inevitable. Not everyone believes as the same, and thinking everyone eventually will is silly.

Rethink personal attitudes regarding tolerance vs. acceptance? Are they different? Be accepting, in doing so we are showing compassion.

Keep looking up.   : )   AJ