Zero tolerance

My sister Catia (on the right with 4 years) and I (on the left with 6 years) are daughters of the same father and the same mother, but we have always been very different one from the other.

Even though we had the same education, the same opportunities, the same teachings, we are practically nothing alike.

I was much more quiet, reserved and didn’t know how to defend myself. On the other hand she was completely the opposite, overexcited, outgoing and she knew how to defend herself very well, jejeje.

When we were children and she would misbehave, I would get very irritated. In school I would look after her so that she wouldn’t get in trouble, even though she didn’t need me to, but as her older sister I would worry and want to overprotect her.

In other occasions I would admire her courage of speaking out and confronting people, she would tell them their truths, and I would think, “Well said, I wish I had the courage to speak those things. Well put, that is exactly what I wanted to say.”

We would fight some times like all sisters but soon enough we were hugging each other and playing as if nothing had happened.

What do I want to get to with all of this? I want to talk about tolerance; sometimes people don’t accept the differences in others, that is why they don’t get along with others, not even with their spouse, nor their friends, nor their colleagues or neighbors.

If us as sister were so different, imagine yourself now wanting to demand that the person with whom you live be exactly like you, it’s impossible.

Think about it, your marriage might not be working out because you simply don’t understand that your husband is not like you.

Perhaps you don’t have friends because, of the same reason. You don’t know how to tolerate their differences; you want a friend that is a copy of you.

Or maybe, people don’t enjoy your company because they know you are intolerant and will negatively criticize them.

Learn to tolerate the differences and accept people as they are, you will see that everything will be much easier and you will have less problems.

How about you start now?