How can we learn to tolerate and respect other people?

compiled by Carlos Zapata - Associate Editor

Resident Advisors are selected for their excellent interpersonal skills. Then they are trained to make them better prepared on handling issues that might arise on extremely diverse environments where people are not only supposed to interact but live together. Several Resident advisors on campus were asked the question: "How can we learn to tolerate and respect other people?" Here are some of their responses:

Tolerating each other is not that hard to do once you understand one another. If people can learn to communicate effectively by letting each other know how they feel and sometimes even why they feel the way they do, then it would be much easier to relate to one another. If you can relate to someone, or at least see where they are coming from, tolerating them isn't a task.

Sarah Margaret Wilcox

I don't think tolerance is possible without understanding. I don't even think I like the word "tolerance" to begin with because it has that connotation of "put up with" something or someone instead of "learn to get along with" something or someone. I think that, in order to build a stronger community where everyone is respected, we need to start learning about each other and understand those aspects of our lives that make us who we are. True, I am not able to identify with everyone, but if I can look at that person in the eye and say : "I can see where you are coming from and why you feel the way you do", then we would be able to move on to more important issues.

Francesca V Escoto

I think the best way to tolerate people is to put yourself in the other person's shoes. I think it makes it a lot easier to understand where someone is coming from. Sometimes it's more difficult when someone has a different view than you and you don't understand why. However, and it's easier said than done, we have to really think about why they feel how they do and be more sensitive. People have much respect for those who make sacrifices and compromises and in the long run it shows, a lot.

Jeff Peterson

Learning to respect others' differences, comes in time. As Helen Keller said "the highest result of education is tolerance." By learning more about others we begin to realize that being tolerant is not about compromising our own beliefs, but rather, as John Kennedy said, it's about "condemning the oppression or persecution of other's [beliefs]." Continued education is the only root to a truly tolerant society

Gregory R. Snow

Tolerance is one of those qualities that is in everyone if you just learn to put things into perspective. Those qualities which are most discriminated against never impact your (the majority's) lives. How can a person be disliked by the color of their skin or by their sexual preference, if these traits have no effect on your individual life whatsoever. Have some pride in yourself, realize what has an impact on your life and what doesn't. Begin to see these differences as they are; the qualities which make us individuals, not enemies.

Myles Alexander Walton

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