Tolerance means accepting and valuing differences between people, appreciating that these differences enrich us. It recognizes that each of us has a limited perspective on the world and that together our tapestry of insights and virtues is greater than those of any one person, tribe or culture alone.
Tolerance acknowledges the vastness of Reality and cherishes the many human faces of that Reality. When we are tolerant we watch and listen and seek to discover how the many pieces fit together to make a wonderful whole. We are able to delight in the otherness of strangers and our intimate companions, knowing that our own lives would be less rich if everyone were more like us.