The three of us felt impelled to do something, to make a difference, to start somewhere and researching this idea of ‘tolerance’ seemed a good enough place to begin.
We found that the UN’s International Day for Tolerance was initiated in 1995 in the shadow of similarly overwhelming divisions on our doorstep: the war in Bosnia, fought over the ancient roots of a culture clash between tribes, religions and socio-economic divides. Surely teaching tolerance in practice from the earliest age will prevent our children from succumbing to conflict where dialogue, debate and reason could instead prevail. We want our children to learn that ‘tolerance is the highest result of education’ .
Our work to date has been focussed around getting kids thinking for themselves, not to accept the paradigms of their parents or peers but to develop, via their own innate curiosity, sound reasoning skills of their own within a framework of listening, dialogue, debate. Combining this with understanding and tolerance of people’s rights and freedoms to their own opinions, beliefs and practices is a step in the right direction towards a better future for our kids.
I am now not overwhelmed by impotence, but rather by the immensely powerful flood of support from the global community. Our tiny efforts have been championed and swept along on a tide of goodwill and cooperation.