An overload of intolerance

Steve Kendall | Bendigo Weekly | 10-Nov-2011 3.59pm

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There is nothing like a bit of close-proximity annoyance to bring out the worst in some


INTOLERANCE. Big word to start with this week.

I think I’m guilty of it on many levels, mostly aimed at drivers around town.

However, I came to really dislike a fellow traveller on a recent flight back from England.

There I was crammed into seat 77G with the cabin full of other economy-level passengers – there were 333 of us – when I noticed the man in front was wearing a hat.

Not the thing you’d expect in an aircraft, except the captain maybe. It was one of those leathery Aussie hats which are generally sold to tourists.

Eventually he flipped it back and it hung around his neck on a string for the rest of the journey.

Worse was to come, he had protruding ears, and they were heavily sunburnt and to be honest, looked covered in melanomas. 

Over the next 22 or so hours I came to hate the man with the ears as he moved the seat back and forward, seemingly oblivious to the people behind him.

There is a certain etiquette to this, as no one really wants the chair back in their lap.

Mind you, I reckon I paid him back with my snoring.

Now I am back home in Australia I have had time to reflect on my intolerance, and how unrealistic it was.

How could I make so much of such a small thing?

Intolerance leads to so many problems in our world, and today of all days is a reminder of just how bad it can get.

November 11 marks the day in 1918 when the war to end all wars ended.

Shame was, it didn’t end all wars, we are still losing men and women fighting a cause which has its root in intolerance.

Why can’t we get on together?

During my trip to England I chanced across a cemetery in Lincoln.

There among the long lost of the English fen country, lay a couple of hundred graves of Polish airmen killed while in training.

Not for them any glory in death, if such a thing exists, but simply a twist of fate which saw them die before facing the enemy again.

I say again, because Poland,
due to the intolerance of
Germany, was drawn into a war
it neither chose nor wanted.

Those who survived the onslaught escaped to England to fight again.

Some to fall.

At war’s end the Polish warriors who remained were snubbed by the Allies to appease the intolerant Soviet Union.

The Lincoln cemetery bears testament to the price paid by many.

Seems there is lot to be said for all to be a little more tolerant to those around us.

Not just at Christmas, or when we are in a good mood, but at all times.

I’m not often one to preach in such a way, but when you stop for the minute’s silence at 11am today try to think of the millions, of all nationalities, who have died due to the intolerance of leaders and nations.

When it comes down to it, my 22 hours of minor trauma on an aircraft was nothing. 

I should shut up and be grateful I have not been flung into conflict or any serious row. 

I may start being kinder to fellow road users too.

Then again, maybe if I vent my silent anger in the car, men with sunburnt ears will be free to travel unhindered on my next trip overseas.

Sounds like a tolerable plan.


b.Entertained

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