Tolerance: Time and Tide

 

Andraka was hoping to meet Pope Francis while he is in Rome.

 

He told WBAL Radio he felt it was amazing to be recognized by the Vatican even though he is gay.  He says it shows how much the world has grown to accept gay people.

 

Some days it can be easy to think we're taking a step backwards in terms of social acceptance for people who are different and more critical of those who reinforce stigmas.  Case in point - Rob Ford. 

 

Rob Ford is a bigot and a bully who has often appealed to the worst in people with his particularly crass brand of populism.  He has perpetuated all kinds of stigmas during his time in office - against gays, against minority groups, political lefties, cyclists, employees, so on and so forth.

 

Even those who were willing to back Ford to the hilt against the people they didn't like are beginning to realize that Ford is himself a perfect representative of the thugs they once refused to hug.

 

Did Ford pull the wool over their eyes?  Were they willing to overlook behaviours they knew to be immoral, so long as they got their selfish hits in?  What does that say about them?

 

Glass houses, etc.  Of course, as I'm sure Pope Francis would tell Andraka, the church does not live within the confines of firewalls - it's wherever the people are praying.  The divine is not reflected in the personal differences of genetics, environment or blind fortune - it's reflected through what we have in common and what we can grow together.