Articles

Articles for "Tolerance" magazine created by the participants. 

The participants have described how the lack of tolerance affects people in different social aspects; shared real life stories related to tolerance and compassion and answered 3 questions: 

1. How the attitude for different people or groups very in various countries?
2. Is the place of the person or group determined by the others or person himself?
3. How compassionate the society actually is?



Article 1


Comparison between childhood and adult life

Nowadays, in the global level, we have a lot of things that we can compare. There are a lot of things that are uncommon such as nationality, physical appearance, wealth and lifestyle.

We can compare many things between child and adult and one of them is responsibilities. It is clear to all that it cannot be equal. Children actually have nothing to worry about, but the adults have to be responsible of that his children will receive everything for fortune life. There’s also that kind of people that will never grow up mentally and be able to take care even for theirselves.

We can also divide by the judgment of physical appearance, for example, children can be more judgmental of each other. We think younger people care more about looks, than the older generation. For example many children are made fun of because they have glasses, or just because they look different than an average person, being fat, skinny or short. If you compare this to adults appearance is not as important to them.

During childhood school grades are a important part of life. Depending on the community children with different grades can be picked on. Mostly children who have bad grades are mocked, but also those who are above average can have a bad time at school.

Behavior is maybe the most important part of our personality. Behavior plays a very big role in what people think of us. It stays the same from childhood to being an adult. Although, society is more tolerant and calm towards children.

Views in the family are also very important, we learn in our childhood most from our families. It can be a lot of reasons for changing the attitude, for example rich person became poor. That person was very rude, selfish and bad at first, but then accidentally the parents of that person died, and he became very poor, and then he started to understand the real situation at his life and started to regret every bad word he said to others.

As time passes and people change in many aspects but some stay the same.


Discussion of the questions

1. How the attitude for different people or groups very in various countries?

A: Immigrants

Latvia: Generally negative attitude, but it’s okay if there aren’t too many
Italy: Two different views, tolerant attitude in the north part of the country,
Turkey: There are very many immigrants, Cultural differences. People more excepting In the Eastern part of country.
Hungary: Generally negative attitude towards immigrants.

B: Homeless people

Latvia : Most people think it’s their fault they are homeless.
Italy : They are taken care nicely , provided with food and shelter .
Bulgaria: Not many homeless. They are taken care nicely .
Turkey : Manny immigrants are homeless . Most people are compassionate towards them
Hungary : Those who don’t except help or want to change are viewed negatively lots of them are alcoholic.

C: Different sexual orientation

Most countries people don’t care or have negative view on it, In Italy it is mostly because of the church. In Turkey religion is also against these sorts of people.



2. Is the place of the person or group determined by the others or person himself?

During our discussion we came to a conclusion that is depends very much on the surroundings. Sometimes people make huge efforts but for reasons beyond them they cannot be successful. For example if a child in Africa has no chance to go to school at all , even if they make huge effort they can’t learn as much as others with better backgrounds. Fatima’s told us a story about herself , she comes from a poor family , but in order to get into university she went to work to Austria to make enough money for the university.


3. How compassionate the society actually is?

In Turkey the religion makes people compassionate. In Bulgaria people aren’t very compassionate.
There are two parts of social compassion. One is in everyday life, the other is governmental policy ( for example taxes, and redistribution ) In most European states there are welfare states, meaning the government takes care of its citizens. For example Scandinavian countries have high taxes, but in exchange people get a lot of help from the government. In the USA most people are very compassionate in everyday life , but government policy isn’t at all ( health care for example)





Article 2


6 Faces of Tolerance


      Six Millenials from different parts of the world share how they deal with intolerance through their lives.



Elitsa, 3-7 years old, Bulgaria

“ Imagine if nobody tells you what’s right and what’s wrong? What could have been different for you today? Personally, I believe I could have had a lifetime friend. I remember when I was 5 years old and I visited my grandparents every weekend. As usual I was spending my time playing outside with other kids. We were bunch of kids living in the buildings around the neighbourhood all coming from families with different backgrounds and social status. We were growing up together so we knew each other quite well. As kids we cared about being together and having fun and it was as easy as just going outside of your house. One day I was going shopping with my grandmother when we stumbled upon one of my dear friends Yulia. I would have never forgotten what my grandmother told me after I greeted Yulia - “You shouldn’t be talking to her — she is a gypsy!”. Back then, I didn’t quite get it. She was my friend and I liked to spend time with her. And yes, she was a gypsy but that fact did not have any effect on our friendship at all. Of course, eventually I lost contact with Yulia. Partly because I wasn’t living there all the time but also because of what I have been told it is right to do. “




Evelīna, high school, Latvia

I must be lucky, because I’ve never felt real discrimination around me. In elementary school my classmates had some jokes about each other, but no one got offended. Also in high school we managed to get along with each other. It feels like we were all brothers and sisters. We didn’t compete about grades and our teacher treated us equally. Maybe that is because we come from a little town where the social status there doesn’t differ so vividly. We were all equal.                                                                         But in general children sometimes feel discriminated in schools. It is hard to avoid the offensive jokes. Mostly about the appearance, because children don’t get into someones’ character, they judge everything by the way something or someone looks..






Eszti, Primary school, Hungary

You can always hear the stories about the minorities, about how  incorrect they are treated. Well, my story is a little bit different, I want to show you an other side of this conflict.
I went to primary school in a little town, that kind of where everyone knows eachother, so if you just went to the store, you could be sure you will run into someone who you wished not to see. It was the same while growing up there- if you got drunk one night, next day you could tell by their smiles- they know more than you about your night.
Primary school was the same- you could not hide. My school was like 60 percent of gypsies, and if you thought we banned them, you are wrong- they had a really strong community, so they were in a position to ban everyone else they wanted to. My classmates and I never did anything to make them feel bad, because we had no problems with them, but because of the cultual diferences and the fear of being discriminized, they automatically thought we have bad feelings or even hate towards them, and we never had a chance to solve this conflicts, because after a while- I guess because of their negative thoughts, they started to tease all of us. Basically we made a really big thing out of something stupid- stereotypes and being too proud to talk to eachother. I think education is the key, because if we would have had sessions with our teachers and everyone of the kids, I am sure we would have been able to make friends on the playground, and not enemies.




Linda, 15-18 years old, Italy

In sport there is a lot of competition, intolerance and discrimination, other times not.It happens frequently if you-re in a wrong team or maybe because people are too mach competitive to be discriminated if you-re not up to the level. From the opposite side, It happens also to be hated  because you are too special for the team and others aren’t.
In this world, It can be  possible to encounter intollerant behaviors due to hate and it manifest itself during mathes and tranings. But It also true that if you are in a good team and you are appreciated the situation is differnt and it is amazing.
Not all is bad and if the people are kind but also competitive you-ll have a good motivation to play better.
            I believe we must learn to be more tolerant with teammates that are eighter more or less talented than we are for a sace of the most significant thing, the sport.





Alessandro, high school, Italy

When i went in high school wasn’t easy be one’s self, the discrimination of the people on you was so heavy that after some time you didn’t be yourself, because you didn’t feel good. I didn’t like my period spent with my class mate in high school because in five years nobody was himself. I remember a lot of chase when some guy were discriminate and judged for their social status, clothes and especially for their behavior. Normally they didn’t be involve on the group activities with other people for some features that them had. 
After spend this time with them I discovered that the discrimination depend of the type of school that you attend, there are some high school for the people that want study and other school for who don’t want study a lot and don’t continue to the university. Normally the discrimination is often present in the low school for who want start to work after that school. Anyway the problems for  start from the first meeting with the people, when they meet you on first time. The prejudice that decide who are you normally are the style of Behaviors, clothes you wear. In this age the tolerance isn’t accept a lot and the prejudice avoid you be yourself.



 Alinda, 2014, Turkey

One day I was walking through the street and I saw a poor boy begging for money and I just pretended as I’m not aware of him, but he told something that I couldn’t stop myself to get sad and help. He told me that he was hungry a lot and couldn’t get food for long time and he was really shaking because of the cold weather in a bad situation. Normally, I was bringing some food or clothes to make them warmer in the cold winter when I see Syrian kids that are collecting plastics, metals or some stuff from rubbish. There were a lot of them around came to my city and my country as refuges and they were all around in the streets without even shoes or clothes that is going to make them warm during the winter. This time the little boy was also suffering from cold weather and he was so hungry, asking for some money to buy some food. I felt so sorry for him and tried to find some coins to give him. Suddenly, a few kids are appeared just behind me all asking for money. It happened so fast. I really felt uncomfortable because there were six kids appeared suddenly and surrounding me. I get really scared because they were trying to catch me while picking my clothes not to let me go! I tried to get away because they became to be dangerous and I get more scared. Sometimes those kids were drinking thinner and carrying sharp objects as blades to threaten people on the street to take money from them.
To conclude my story, I have to say that our stereotypes could sometimes be useful for us to protect ourselves from bad events or from danger to happen- Because, it is not easy to help everyone or get well with everybody and we don’t have to welcome whoever we see. Sometimes we also need to protect ourselves and those stereotypes could be helpful to see the events which are probable to happen in near future.



Article 3



Tolerance in virtual world

Do you remember your childhood? Obviously, you used to play with real toys in the playground, that is why all the childhood memories seem very real; it is possible to recall the smell, taste and sound of things. Unfortunately nowadays toys have become digital. The evolvement of technologies in the last decade has been unthinkable, and children are starting to get to know virtual world even better than the real one. The virtual identity becomes more important – compliments turn into likes, conversations into shares, and, surely enough, today they seem like an essence of life for many of us. On the internet likes and dislikes are also shown in more personal and unpleasant way that make us questionate: is there actually any room left for tolerance, when a person can simply have none or multiple identities at once?
Children – the most unprotected part of society – have a tendency to form groups online just the way they do it offline. The social grouping begins at this age; there will always be a leader and a geek, in order form a simple hierarchy. At this point it is very important not to let kids out of control simply for one reason: they are defining themselves, and the bullying can actually destroy the self-esteem of a child. Almost every child has an access to the internet connection. The effects of technology on children are complicated, with both benefits and costs. Whether technology helps or hurts in the development of children’s thinking depends on what specific technology is used and how and what frequency it is used. Nevertheless real life conflicts could evolve into virtual conflicts with surprising consequences. For example, a bullied child has an account in some chatroom where he/she is far away from any kind of control (the bullies/ parents etc.). Online image and info shows a pretty and funny person searching for others alike in order to make new… conflicts. That’s right! Simply the amount of aggression that has been received daily is too much. In order to increase self-esteem, the child actually has to feel the power. A basic need to fit in some group is very important for people, no matter child or adult.
Compared to kids, who spend their time online having fun or socializing, adults in daily life use the internet mostly for work or information purposes. Adults have more developed self-awareness and if they belong to a group, they tend to benefit from the
shared responsibility of decision-making process. That is why the comments in forums or in private chats mainly appear as remarks, containing not so much of personal insults than critics and definitions of social roles. The virtual space provides the chance to have more than one identity, so bad and good aspects can be expressed. From time to time people choose not to create an account with detailed information, but prefer to take part in a discussion, without creating any identity at all. Being anonymous does not give the person freedom to lose common social skills or act improperly, that is not the case for the most of the times, but once for a while discussions with harsh and very personal comments appear. Though there is no single person behind it, the conflict and lack of tolerance can seriously damage the object of the insult.
But is there any way how to avoid from contrasting virtual and real identity? First of all, parents are the ones who make rules for child in the first years of his life. That is why parents should pay attention how and with whom their child is spending free time. Tablets, smartphones and PCs, of course, are helping to control the child, but when the time comes, there will be no surprise that the device will have control over child. Maybe some family time every now and then might be helpful. Simply take the children out, make him see the beauty of the world, socializing and actually playing with real children and toys. It is impossible to protect the child from bad things, but it is possible to bring a real life experience and see new horizons.
Tolerance in real world is different from the one in virtual world because of the fact that every person has a single identity; it is impossible to hide anywhere if you are the one who is being discriminated because of some reason, while online world offers a tempting opportunity to become whoever you want to be. Maybe it is time to think how contrasting your real and virtual lives are, and time to improve your tolerance.


Questions:

1. There are always similar stereotypes and conflict situations as well as opposite ones. How the conflict evolves and ends depends on the cultural aspects.

2. Where the individual stands in a society very often is determined by society, yet very bright personalities can always find a way to shine.

3. The society has managed to become more intolerant than before. There can be many causes for that: changing lifestyle, economic/politic situation etc., yet it is an important problem that should be solved as soon as possible.





Article 4 

Italian childhood (Italy Milan 2002)

Giorgio is a six year-old child, whose parents are working in hospital, as doctors. Now he is attending the first class in primary school, and getting to make new friends with others children in his class.
It’s a new situation for him, because he has had no friends before. He didn’t expect that other children could be so friendly to him. All of the children want to become his friends, and after two months he is most popular in the school. But their friends are greedy, the only reason why they make friends with him is that he looks very reach and has expensive toys. Giorgio’s parents work in holidays as well, and they don’t have enough time to take care about him, only the grandmother does. He is grown up by her.  His grandmother was the most important person in his life.
His life was the same even when he was teenager, we can say, it was very boring for him: nothing changed, he should not have to fight for anything, he got everything he just wanted. The only things, what he did not get are a normal family life and true friends.
The first change happened when he reached the age of 18:  his grandmother died. The only person he loved and who loved him too. This period was very hard to him, but he decided to go to university and try to live a meaningful life. 



African childhood (Ghana Accra 2002)   


Chika is a nine year-old girl. She had a very hard life until now, she lives in a large family, but her mother died when she was three years old. So she had to grow up her two younger brother and two sisters at the same time while she was attending missionary school. Her father worked a lot and very hard, so he was home very rarely. Chika comes from where there no enough food, no clean water. When she reached the age of six, her father forced her to work on the fields for more money, but she would have prefered to go to school.

At the age of 18 she was looking for a better place without her father permission. So she left her country, Ghana, where she has grown up, for an uncertain life in Italy.

AFTER A FEW YEARS…

Giorgio is 20 years old now and he is attending interpreting faculty in university  in Milan. Chika is 23 years old now and after 5 years as an employer in a supermarket she has saved enough money to start her studies in the university.

Giorgio and Chika saw each other  the first time when they was in the canteen of the school. Giorgio just took a look at Chika, and after passed away, because he was a stereotypic person, and he thought that all the immigrants are untidy and stealing jobs from the italians.
But accidentally  they had a common course, where the professor gave them a task to solve together.  During working together they started started to tell about their life and were getting to know each other better. Chika spoke a lot about her childhood, explained how the European and Italian goverment helped her to start a new life in  a new country with completely difficult culture. At the beginning Giorgio didn’t like her, because he believed that the Italian goverment is too compationate toward immigrants, so italians are put aside of work. But after a time Giorgio’s mind changed and he  realized that the girl was very lucky that she is still alive and and has a chance for studiing in a university.
When they listened each other they found out, that there is no difference between the people. They are living ont he same Earth, just they were born in different place surrounded by different environment, culture and chances. After the long talks, a kind of connection started between them, and finally they fell in love.
While studiing at the university, they got know the Erasmus+ projects by a local organisation They started to take part in projects with different topics for youngsters. They have had a chance to travel around Europe, and at the same time they discover that the attitude between all the countries have changed a lot, each europian country has its own behavior against different people. In fact, the important things about the place of the person is determined. They traveled to several countries and learned amount things about different cultures. They have already learned a lot, got experiences and developed their skills in several topics which helped them to become better persons and accept different people’s points of view.




Article 5 


From hopelessness to entrepreneur!

Some time ago, one child came in to the world. He was very ill. He had an epilepsy in a heavy way. He was very disabled by having this problem, so he couldn’t live normally. He was born in a poor family which was a part of very small minority in Bulgaria, and that caused in judgment from society at school he was going. He was very shy because of his disability, and his classmates were laughing on him. He had bad grades at studies at school because of attitude against him. Also he wasn’t one of the smartest children. That made him feels bad and depressed. His parents though that he’s stupid and didn’t even tried to help him out with this problem.
As it’s usually happening – he grew up. He got married. After this everything changed. Until that he always wanted to become a better person but he never had a reason. That time he had a nice opportunity and for that time, he had become smart enough to take advantage. He had innovative idea. That resulted in a wealthy living. After this he got a lot of new friends, even those who was laughing on he. But he accepted this friendship, because he was very good person. He was very tolerant and responsive to everyone. He liked to give without a receiving back. Maybe that resulted in end of his sickness.




His time has come and he passed away. He had achieved a lot from such poverty. He had children. They decided to write one sentence on his gravestone: “No matter what kind of an obstacles and circumstances we everybody have a chance to achieve something in his life just put an effort on it.”