Tolerant Counterfeit: Superficial

Tolerant is a character marked by acceptance of self and others just as Maslow communicated. To this, I add that this character allows you to change your definition of self and grow over time. This character is also marked by the ability to risk. Being wrong or unpopular is an acceptable risk if it brings others into the interaction.

The counterfeit of tolerant is superficial. As a superficial character, you lack the engagement that enables true analysis of yourself and objective evaluation of others. You miss opportunities to challenge yourself to be better. You allow others to be mediocre rather than point out failures because blindness to their failure enables blindness to your own ineptitude.

You think that to be totally accepting or to be intolerant are the only choices. You are often heard saying, “To each his own,” or “As long as it doesn’t affect me.” You miss opportunities to grow yourself and participate in the growth of others because you never risk being wrong—on the unpopular side of what is “polite” or “considerate.”

To be truly tolerant, you engage. Your interaction is less about determining right and wrong, and more about supporting the idea that growth and change is possible. Discussions of growth and change, when first applied to you, can yield new insights into how we all might work together toward success. Just because you believed yourself to be something last year, does not mean that new information cannot inform a new belief this year. You apply this allowance to yourself, and risk that others will not agree.