Essay “Tolerance is the pledge of survival”

What is the tolerance? Is it really true pledge of survival of people?

The problem of people’s interaction in a society seems to be one of the most actual ones since the leading type of men’s activities is communication. There is no doubt that the most significant task of the society is to make people understand how important it is to combine efforts and live in peace. In order to do this we should respect cultures, customs and traditions of different people all over the world. We have to listen to other people’s opinion and acknowledge our mistakes. To my mind all these things are the manifestation of tolerance. Nowadays, the problem of tolerance is especially important. Its actuality has some reasons. For example, the world civilization has been sharply stratified according to its economic, social and other indications. As a result we see the growth or terrorism, religious extremism, intolerance. One can also notice the aggravation of nationalism caused by local wars and problem of refugees.

It seems to me that tolerance is a special moral quality which reflects an active social position and psychological readiness for positive interaction with people who have different religions, ideology, styles of thinking and behaviour. According to the Big encyclopedia the word “tolerance” means tolerance towards other opinions, religions, behaviour.

As far as I’m concerned the problem of tolerance is rather new for the investigators of our country and also foreign ones. The first works appeared in the mid 90-s. Their authors were Borba Michele, Kamungeremu David, Wanderberg Robert and others. On November, 16, 1995 the Declaration of principles of tolerance was adopted by UNECKO. No one can deny the Declaration won recognition around the world. The 16-th of November has become the international day of tolerance which is celebrated everywhere.

Multinationality is a characteristic feature of many regions in Russia. Khanty-Mansiysky district is not an exception. It was developed into multinational as people of many nationalities lived there from the beginning of its foundation.

I feel strongly that each of us it not only a citizen of Russia but a representative of its people. Unfortunately, the national conflicts have become sharper. It occurs due to the fact that our youth doesn’t realize that it’s quite a natural thing for people to have their own customs and traditions. The problem is that some people don’t understand what the word “tolerance” means. They think it’s connected with the weakness of will and digression of principles.

According to the personal particulars of the students of our gymnasium we can come to the conclusion that on the whole teenagers are interested in the culture of their country. But still they have some deficiency in their knowledge. In my opinion the problem is that young people of today are unable to resist the diffusion of extremism and national hostility and they don’t want to be more tolerant towards people of other nationalities. I think they should increase the level of their common culture. It’s quite obviously that a lot of teenagers have to survive in difficult conditions. That’s why they are so aggressive and violent.

At present there’re a lot of groupings with their own ideas. Their slogan is “Russia for Russians!” They consider themselves to be patriots of Motherland. But I don’t think so. It’s not patriotism at all. From my point of view real patriotism is an ability to live an defend your country, help other people, be proud of Motherland’s achievements in science, culture. Patriotism can’t be confused with hostility towards other people. We all live in Russia. People of more than 100 nationalities live in my country. Everybody can call it his or her Motherland.

Well, what can I do? I’m only 17 years old. I seem to be “a tiny mechanism” in my society. But in fact there’re a lot of people who can be influenced. Frankly speaking I’d like to find the ways to solve the problems of national intolerance among the teenagers of our gymnasium. They should learn to live in peace and harmony with children of other races and religions. I hope I’ll manage to do it with the help of the Student self-government, Internet, clubs and studios. Our pupils will have an opportunity to get acquainted with culture, history and traditions of other people and respect them.

So, we’ll have to create some folklore and drama studios, embroidery clubs, etc. It can be a good idea to organize competitions in national sports, excursions in our school local museum where the pupils will have a chance to see different exhibits and learn a lot of interesting things about the past of Khanty and Mansy and other people.

We can come across some difficulties while preparing for this or that arrangement. But I think there’re different ways of solving these problems, for example, the use of effective methods to make the pupils’ activities more interesting. It can be great to involve our parents, mass media, different social partners, such as the District centre of culture and trades “Khanse”, the Youth Labor exchange “Chance” in our affairs.

In conclusion, I want to notice, we must realize the tolerance, first of all, as the major value of a society opening the road to perception of other cultures, capable to appreciate freedom and respect human advantages, abilities and individuality. I hope young people with different cultures and traditions will live in peace and friendship for the sake of future generations. There will be mutual understanding, trust. Respect among them. We must remember that it’s our duty to keep peace in the world.

Let our world be full of warmth and love. It depends on each of us!