THIS issue of
variety and tolerance is most relevant
nowadays because we cannot deny that we are experiencing
today a
growing variety and diversity of mentalities, cultures,
lifestyles,
ideologies, beliefs, etc. There is now a great need to
have a handle
on this complex issue so that we can also develop the
proper attitude
and skill of approval and disapproval, tolerance and
intolerance
toward it.
For one we need
to know what good and bad variety is. This
is already a very complicated exercise which should not
daunt us. More
than that, we need to discern the fine nuances among the
differences
we can observe in the variety and plurality of things so
that we can
tackle them with great prudence.
In theory, a
good variety and diversity is one which stems
from a living spirit, and preserves it, defends and
protects it. It is
not divisive and destructive. Its differences work in the
dynamic of
complementation. There is a certain order involved, a
system that is
driven by the principles of the common good, solidarity
and
subsidiarity.
A bad variety
is the opposite. It stems from a lying
spirit. And even if it may show some signs of vitality,
it actually
undermines the organism involved in it. The order that it
shows is at
best only apparent. In the end it is divisive and
destructive.
A sample of a
good variety is illustrated in the words of
St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians when he
explained the
unity and diversity of the different parts of the body of
Christ to
which we are supposed to be incorporated. (cfr 12,12-30)
In fact, this
is the ideal way of understanding the variety that we can
expect in
our life and the pertinent sense of tolerance and
intolerance that we
need to practice.
“Just as a
body, though one, has many parts,” says St.
Paul, “but all its parts form one body, so it is with
Christ...If the
foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not
belong to the
body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of
the body. And
if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not
belong to
the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part
of the body.
“If the whole
body were an eye, where would the sense of
hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would
the sense of
smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the
body, every one
of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all
one part,
where would the body be? As it is there are many parts,
but one body.”
These words
clearly tell us that the good variety is one
that is willed and designed by God, our Creator. It is
not just our
own making. We need to acknowledge this basic truth about
ourselves so
that we would know how to handle the unavoidable variety
and
differences among ourselves.
St. Paul
continues: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I
don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I
don’t need
you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem
to be weaker
are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less
honourable we
treat with special honor. And the parts that are
unpresentable are
treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts
need no
special treatment.”
With these
words, St. Paul just laid down for us the kind
of attitude we ought to have to the different parts of a
variety of
things that we have to deal in our life. We need to care
for one
another. And we have to understand that those ‘less
honourable’ and
‘unpresentable’ parts of the body can refer to those
elements in a
society, for example, who are sick or in a state of sin.
We have to
treat them with ‘special honor’ and ‘special modesty.’
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