I’ve just been watching, yet again, some of the antiracist protests going on around the world, triggered by the killing of George Floyd. Countless other black people have been killed by white police over the years, usually followed by outrage and cries for “doing better” — remember Rodney King’s heartfelt plea, “Can’t we all just get along?” Sadly, nothing changed.

But somehow this feels different. Perhaps it’s the magnitude of the protests worldwide. Most thinking people realize racism is not just an American problem, but a universal problem. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada can’t claim the moral high ground because there is systemic racism there too. Australians are protesting their own treatment of Aboriginals.

It seems we are all being forced to hold up the mirror to our own societies, our own selves, and I pray that this time it will actually result in the change we all say we want. I pray that I will personally recognize and take any opportunities to be part of the solution when they come along.

But I’ve been wondering about a word that is much used in discussion of race: tolerance. Racial tolerance is held up as an ideal to strive for, but is it really? The word tolerance comes from the verb to tolerate, which implies acceptance against one’s will. The Webster Dictionary defines tolerate as to put up with.

Surely, when it comes to living on the same planet as many varieties of the human race, we can do better than put up with each other. What about understanding? What about friendship? What about integration? What about equality?

What about humanity?