People throughout history have been less tolerant of other cultures. Just look at the Bible - it is rampant with incidences of hatred between people who were from different countries, spoke different languages, worshipped different pagan gods versus the Living God, and even between different faiths or nationalities, and between genders. Is it any wonder, then, that after the Bible days, history has repeated itself?

Sadly, I don’t expect anything to change for the simple fact that people tend to be set in their ways. While the majority might have a better tolerance for differences in other cultures, there will always be a sector of people who won’t embrace such differences. They are the very people who are actually afraid of finding that anything different could be better, and they refuse to find out that they might not compare well against other cultures.

I see this most in looking at our view on other countries today. If I think of a country, I can think of several running jokes and impersonations by comedians on people from that nation. Same thing with religions. It’s quite common for Saturday Night Live to have skits depicting exaggerations of political and religious rituals or practices.

Hatred, we know, is wrong. It is not good to want to see another human being dead. In part, it’s pre-meditated murder. Wanting someone dead is as good as doing the deed yourself. Yet how often do we use the phrase “I hate when” or “I hate <insert person>” or “I hate <fill in the blank>” It’s done mostly without thinking of the literal implication, and more of a frustrated venting of something that has you feel wronged. But those thoughts are easy to give way to thinking poorly of people, and creating stereotypes to support this.

It is not right to have hatred toward a group of people, but it’s a human flaw. We seek perfection and usually think it is found in each of us. Therefore, when we see someone else who is different than us, it is easy to start comparing and want to be seen as the better person because of our competitive natures. Certainly in this day and age where so many people of all faiths and cultures have been meshed together in communities in all the nations, you would think we’ve all learned to get along and to live and let live. But just think of how it is from the outsider’s point of view. Surely you’ve even been there yourself. You walk into a room and immediately notice you are different than everyone else. They might start to look at you funny, or you get embarrassed or feel awkward around them as that awareness sets in. It doesn’t always have to be this way, but it happens just the same. It takes a big person to thrive in such a situation, but ultimately an even bigger person to also accept the situation. Will we ever change our thought processes? Not completely. It’s just not humanly possible with our limited understanding of this world.