We humans tell each other stories.
In fact: our civilization is made up of storytelling.
Unfortunately, the stories about everything that is wrong with the world are constantly and enthusiastically told and shared, while the stories about everything that is pretty and going well with the world receive much less attention.
Because apparently, we get less excited about them.
We pay more attention to what makes us angry.
The result of that unrestrained anger is a culture in which people no longer understand the other, have no feeling for the past or context.
A culture in which groups of people quickly feel victimized.
Our collected stories, the differences between us, in how we live, in what we experience, in what we feel, no longer seem to bring us together into an exciting, diverse society. Our stories no longer seem to forge our civilization together, but rather polarize it.
Our society seems to be less and less about living together.
Social media seem to make us less and less social.
I suggest that we start listening to each other’s stories again.
That we be less easily offended, think for a second before responding, and try to understand each other.
That we allow our lives to be enriched by human diversity.
We don’t all háve to be the same, and feel or think the same.
We may all be ourselves as human beings.
Of course, with a healthy dose of respect for the other.
We don’t need to feel hurt because another person is different from us, lives differently from us, has a different opinion than us.
The world would be incredibly boring if we were all the same.
We should not want to rewrite history and falsify it retroactively, because that new story suits us better today.
We, after all, learn valuable lessons from history.
With our stories of today, we, together, shape the present and the future.
I advocate tolerance.