Tolerance Information & Resources

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crisis = opportunity

Crisis, no matter how traumatic or unsettling, creates opportunity:

• The opportunity to demonstrate compassion and courage when it is needed most
• The opportunity to rise above the chaos, to think and act with calm intelligence
• The opportunity to see all our values in high relief and to test them agaist cold, hard realities
• The opportunity to recognize our weaknesses and to grow to overcome them
• The opportunity to reach out and help others in time of need
• The opportunity to give generously
• The opportunity to affirm or reaffirm our love and concern for our families, friends and colleagues
• The opportunity to test our beliefs and find them strong enough raise us up
• The opportunity to speak out for what is right
• The opportunity to take action to protect the weak and the innocent
• The opportunity for some to take advantage of others - beware
• The opportunity to express powerful emotions positively
• The opportunity for some to rage without wisdom - beware

—Kevin Boyd

On the True Meaning of American Patriotism

From the 1776 Declaration of Independence (updated for the new millenium):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [People] are created equal, that they are endowed [in their Creation] with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among [People], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....

Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constituion for the United States of America.

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Kevin Boyd -

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Last update: Saturday, 28-Apr-2007 09:42:20 PDT