1. To be tolerant or not
Tolerance is a word often used in speaking, at T.V or in newspapers.
But are we really tolerant each other? Are we tolerant with our neighbors, with our friends, with our people?
How would be this world without peace, without tolerance?
We have more than other people in this world could dream about. We have love, we have friends, we have a family and all support that we need and we are still considered as poor people. Imagine that thousands, perhaps millions of children in this world who don’t have a family, not mentioning friends and love.
So, how would be this world without tolerance, better or worse?
Tolerance is based on respect and when the respect is missing tolerance has not the same meaning. We should respect each other. Respect means not only to help an old lady to cross the street but also to understand that a child that you see at a corner of a street for begging is not there because he wants to be there but he is there because he doesn’t have money to buy food for him and for his family. And all this is not necessarily happening because his mother or his father doesn’t want to work but because no one has offered them a job.
Some of us would say “Oh, this is his problem, not mine”. But it is our problem, our major problem.
We should learn to be tolerant one to another because this is the major problem of this century “to be tolerant or not”.
TRIF-COŞAN MARIA,
Form 11th C
Tolerance vs. Intolerance
The notion of tolerance as we understand it today is, first of all, a need of today’s modern society. It is the element that unites all links of a chain that is supposed to form the basis of a perfect society, a united world- a Utopia.
Although tolerance has an overwhelming importance at all the levels of the society and is still a word that produces many disputes and serious talks, there is, surprisingly or not, nothing easier than being( and acting!!!) tolerant. Tolerance is –or at least it should be-, a natural response generated by our own mature and advanced minds and conscience. Are we, the people of the 21st century, tolerant? If not, are we at least trying to be? Are we to blame intolerant people?
It is a reality that sometimes tolerant people change into intolerant, ignorant or even worse due to the behaviour or actions of the persons they have tried to accept. Yes, we are tired of being deceived, taken in by those to whom we have put our trust in. Let’s take for example gypsies. They are in a way or another responsible for the bad impression other nations have on us. We gave them more than a country and in return they destroyed our reputation and deleted hundreds of years of Romanian history and culture from the other peoples’ minds. However, I have personally met extraordinary and successful persons who are gypsies and they made me change my attitude towards them.
There are Gypsies and Gypsies, Romanians and Romanians, Hungarians and Hungarians, English and English… Every country has citizens of which the country is proud of and citizens that must be accepted and… helped but everything within its limits. We have to be tolerant in order to live a happy life; we have to care for the needs of the other, accept his/her beliefs, way of life, traditions and encourage the others to do the same thing. The key is to know how to tell a good and honest man from a pack of starving wolves.
The truth is that we must be more than tolerant; we have to learn what acceptance is and really give our best to change things for the better.
Raluca Popa,
11th C form
2. TOLERANCE VERSUS INTOLERANCE
A peaceful and happy life requires love, understanding, and respect. To live in harmony means to accept other people’s beliefs and hobbits without criticizing, even if we sometimes disagree with them.
It is very important for us to understand that we are all different: we look different, we think different and we live in different ways. But we are all humans, we all have feelings and we feel frustrated and attacked if the society doesn’t understand us or – even worse – it rejects us.
This is, unfortunately, the case of gipsies from Romania. It is maybe one of our greatest mistakes: we are highly intolerant with gipsies, and we have been like this from the very beginning, without offering them a real chance to prove we are wrong.
It is true that they do a lot of illegal things, such as stealing, fighting, taking drugs or even killing. But have we once – at least for a second – thought that all these could be provoked not only by them, but also by our intolerant behaviour?!
To be honest, I have to admit that I was also very intolerant until we discussed this matter in class. Then I realised how wrong I had been judging the gipsies and I started reading more about them and thinking about their situation.
Lately, there are more and more negative aspects, which are getting worse every day, between gipsies and the rest of the population. One of our biggest mistakes – say the specialists in this field – besides intolerance, is that we do not make the difference between the two kinds of gipsies. When we pronounce the word ”gipsy” we only think of all those stereotypes that we have created for them: „gipsies thieves”, „violent gipsies”, „beggars gipsies”, „illiterate gipsies”, „gipsies infractors” or „gipsy Mafia”. And these stereotypes can be misleading, because not all the people from a nation are the same. Just like there are bad Romanians as well as good ones, there are also good gipsies. We should not only see their bad aspects, but also the good ones. We should appreciate them for their talents. For example, they can be great singers, and also very smart. We only have to give them the chance to prove it, to prove that they deserve a better treatment.
In time, we had made a lot of mistakes concerning their problems, to which we haven’t paid enough attention. The local offices didn’t contribute to stopping the attacks over the gipsy communities and – worse – they even encouraged the violent attacks that took place, through passivity and tacit agreement. The government authorities are known for the frequent encouragement of violent acts made by the Civil Guard.
The discrimination and intolerance also appears in education. The gipsy community is the least educated minority from Romania. Most of the gipsies who went to school only finished four or eight classes. Very few managed to finish high school and even lesser graduated a university. The number of illiterates from the gipsy community is unfortunately very high: 44% of the men and 59% of the gipsy women are illiterate.
But we can’t blame only gipsies for that, as they were always criticized and isolated, but very rarely helped. The gipsy children are always discriminated because of the way they are dressed. Poverty is regarded as a synonym for stupidity and, therefore, many gipsy children are isolated in the back of the class and ignored. Due to this kind of cruel treatment and because of the poverty, the gipsy children rarely finish school and that is way it is difficult for them to find work. This is one of the causes of the increase in delinquency and poverty. That’s why we should also be interested in their education and we need to create conditions where they can learn and adapt.
The members of this minority have to face a lot of problems, regarding all life’s aspects. In the past they were treated as a property which can be sold or bought, just as the owner wished, and they were considered inferior beings, that had no feelings. Their life today is not very different and their position in society hasn’t at all improved. Their low standards of life, the lack of water and electricity as well as their unawareness concerning the importance of hygiene lead to the extension of diseases and to a high rate of infantile mortality.
The conclusion I drew from all these is that we must give up intolerance. If we truly want to solve these problems, the effort must come from both sides – our community and the gipsy community – because throwing the blame on each other is only a certain path to failure. Radical changes are necessary, not only in the gipsy communities, but also outside them. We mostly need a change in mentality. The authorities should show a deeper understanding of the problems and should offer more support. But , in most cases, we all have to get over our prejudices.
Alisia Muresan, Clasa a XI-a C.
Tolerance is a word often used in speaking, at T.V or in newspapers.
But are we really tolerant each other? Are we tolerant with our neighbors, with our friends, with our people?
How would be this world without peace, without tolerance?
We have more than other people in this world could dream about. We have love, we have friends, we have a family and all support that we need and we are still considered as poor people. Imagine that thousands, perhaps millions of children in this world who don’t have a family, not mentioning friends and love.
So, how would be this world without tolerance, better or worse?
Tolerance is based on respect and when the respect is missing tolerance has not the same meaning. We should respect each other. Respect means not only to help an old lady to cross the street but also to understand that a child that you see at a corner of a street for begging is not there because he wants to be there but he is there because he doesn’t have money to buy food for him and for his family. And all this is not necessarily happening because his mother or his father doesn’t want to work but because no one has offered them a job.
Some of us would say “Oh, this is his problem, not mine”. But it is our problem, our major problem.
We should learn to be tolerant one to another because this is the major problem of this century “to be tolerant or not”.
TRIF-COŞAN MARIA,
Form 11th C
Tolerance vs. Intolerance
The notion of tolerance as we understand it today is, first of all, a need of today’s modern society. It is the element that unites all links of a chain that is supposed to form the basis of a perfect society, a united world- a Utopia.
Although tolerance has an overwhelming importance at all the levels of the society and is still a word that produces many disputes and serious talks, there is, surprisingly or not, nothing easier than being( and acting!!!) tolerant. Tolerance is –or at least it should be-, a natural response generated by our own mature and advanced minds and conscience. Are we, the people of the 21st century, tolerant? If not, are we at least trying to be? Are we to blame intolerant people?
It is a reality that sometimes tolerant people change into intolerant, ignorant or even worse due to the behaviour or actions of the persons they have tried to accept. Yes, we are tired of being deceived, taken in by those to whom we have put our trust in. Let’s take for example gypsies. They are in a way or another responsible for the bad impression other nations have on us. We gave them more than a country and in return they destroyed our reputation and deleted hundreds of years of Romanian history and culture from the other peoples’ minds. However, I have personally met extraordinary and successful persons who are gypsies and they made me change my attitude towards them.
There are Gypsies and Gypsies, Romanians and Romanians, Hungarians and Hungarians, English and English… Every country has citizens of which the country is proud of and citizens that must be accepted and… helped but everything within its limits. We have to be tolerant in order to live a happy life; we have to care for the needs of the other, accept his/her beliefs, way of life, traditions and encourage the others to do the same thing. The key is to know how to tell a good and honest man from a pack of starving wolves.
The truth is that we must be more than tolerant; we have to learn what acceptance is and really give our best to change things for the better.
Raluca Popa,
11th C form
2. TOLERANCE VERSUS INTOLERANCE
A peaceful and happy life requires love, understanding, and respect. To live in harmony means to accept other people’s beliefs and hobbits without criticizing, even if we sometimes disagree with them.
It is very important for us to understand that we are all different: we look different, we think different and we live in different ways. But we are all humans, we all have feelings and we feel frustrated and attacked if the society doesn’t understand us or – even worse – it rejects us.
This is, unfortunately, the case of gipsies from Romania. It is maybe one of our greatest mistakes: we are highly intolerant with gipsies, and we have been like this from the very beginning, without offering them a real chance to prove we are wrong.
It is true that they do a lot of illegal things, such as stealing, fighting, taking drugs or even killing. But have we once – at least for a second – thought that all these could be provoked not only by them, but also by our intolerant behaviour?!
To be honest, I have to admit that I was also very intolerant until we discussed this matter in class. Then I realised how wrong I had been judging the gipsies and I started reading more about them and thinking about their situation.
Lately, there are more and more negative aspects, which are getting worse every day, between gipsies and the rest of the population. One of our biggest mistakes – say the specialists in this field – besides intolerance, is that we do not make the difference between the two kinds of gipsies. When we pronounce the word ”gipsy” we only think of all those stereotypes that we have created for them: „gipsies thieves”, „violent gipsies”, „beggars gipsies”, „illiterate gipsies”, „gipsies infractors” or „gipsy Mafia”. And these stereotypes can be misleading, because not all the people from a nation are the same. Just like there are bad Romanians as well as good ones, there are also good gipsies. We should not only see their bad aspects, but also the good ones. We should appreciate them for their talents. For example, they can be great singers, and also very smart. We only have to give them the chance to prove it, to prove that they deserve a better treatment.
In time, we had made a lot of mistakes concerning their problems, to which we haven’t paid enough attention. The local offices didn’t contribute to stopping the attacks over the gipsy communities and – worse – they even encouraged the violent attacks that took place, through passivity and tacit agreement. The government authorities are known for the frequent encouragement of violent acts made by the Civil Guard.
The discrimination and intolerance also appears in education. The gipsy community is the least educated minority from Romania. Most of the gipsies who went to school only finished four or eight classes. Very few managed to finish high school and even lesser graduated a university. The number of illiterates from the gipsy community is unfortunately very high: 44% of the men and 59% of the gipsy women are illiterate.
But we can’t blame only gipsies for that, as they were always criticized and isolated, but very rarely helped. The gipsy children are always discriminated because of the way they are dressed. Poverty is regarded as a synonym for stupidity and, therefore, many gipsy children are isolated in the back of the class and ignored. Due to this kind of cruel treatment and because of the poverty, the gipsy children rarely finish school and that is way it is difficult for them to find work. This is one of the causes of the increase in delinquency and poverty. That’s why we should also be interested in their education and we need to create conditions where they can learn and adapt.
The members of this minority have to face a lot of problems, regarding all life’s aspects. In the past they were treated as a property which can be sold or bought, just as the owner wished, and they were considered inferior beings, that had no feelings. Their life today is not very different and their position in society hasn’t at all improved. Their low standards of life, the lack of water and electricity as well as their unawareness concerning the importance of hygiene lead to the extension of diseases and to a high rate of infantile mortality.
The conclusion I drew from all these is that we must give up intolerance. If we truly want to solve these problems, the effort must come from both sides – our community and the gipsy community – because throwing the blame on each other is only a certain path to failure. Radical changes are necessary, not only in the gipsy communities, but also outside them. We mostly need a change in mentality. The authorities should show a deeper understanding of the problems and should offer more support. But , in most cases, we all have to get over our prejudices.
Alisia Muresan, Clasa a XI-a C.
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