What matters in the end is not the world we will leave to our children, but the children we will leave to the world. This appeal is more urgent today than it was in 1995. Recent events in Kosovo, Rwanda and elsewhere prove the truth of this. The unwillingness of many nations to bring into law effective anti-hate statutes adds further emphasis to the need for the development and teaching of individual tolerance. Tolerance cannot be legislated.
Intolerance is something that grows out of ignorance and fear in the darker corners of our minds.
We may nod our acceptance of to laws and decrees that mandate tolerance but what we must really do is examine our baseless suspicions. We must put them under the light of knowledge and banish them forever. It is my belief that every moment of our existence should be a moment of tolerance. We are free to live in our beliefs for they dwell within us. Let us take from them the messages of tolerance that live within them.