An interesting question.
I figure that as long as anyone sees life as black/white, right.wrong, they will always think of others as us/them. If we keep our ideas categorized in boxes then it does make life and our responses easier and as we get older, perhaps this process makes our daily living easier in some respects. We don't have to "decide" or "think about" what drives our choices.
The word "tolerance" is often used in these kinds of discussions, and I guess that is a first step, but it feels to me like tolerating is really just "putting up with" which really doesn't get us out of the us/them paradigm.
If we could move to a paradigm that saw us all as equal at the core, with each of us expressing ourselves in our own unique way, perhaps we could appreciate each person as the unique expression of human being that s/he is. And I think that at our core, on some level, we probably all think we are doing that....well perhaps not all LOL.
I'll get off my soap box now before this gets too heavy. Good qustion, Redwitch and thanks for asking and giving me something to consider, especially when I watch the young people in positions of authority......who seem to be getting younger daily.
LW888
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