Gregory Tarnoff Photography & Design
Madison | Milwaukee

Posts Tagged ‘Tolerance’

New year, new post, new things to get done. GSDASTFA

January 4th, 2010, posted in Prose

Welcome to 2010.

So according to the movies I grew up watching, we are supposed to have interplanetary travel, contact with alien life, flying cars, and personal robots. Well it hasn’t come around at this point, but some goods things have, for me at least.
I just completed my first year trying to live a vegan life. It hasn’t been one hundred percent successful, I did have a few days where I consumed dairy products, but overall things are going well. I lost nearly 35 pounds just by eating vegan. I find myself more compassionate towards others, calmer, and thoughtful. I also completed my third year without a cigarette. This is awesome.
With 2010 here, I thought it might be a good idea to jot down some things I’d like to accomplish. These aren’t resolutions, but focal points of my time. So without further ado….
  1. Write more. The plan right now is to write one article every two weeks. Starting with this one. Some will be on tech/web issues. Others will be philosophical musings, Buddhist or vegan oriented. (Although I will post any recipes I come up with on my other site http://www.veganseat.info)
  2. Up my creative game. This one is a little tougher, but also a little broader. I want to produce one piece of creative content (not tied to a job) per week. This could be HTML/CSS, Javascript, a Wordpress theme, a full site, or a poster/wallpaper. The point is to push my personal envelope creatively and develop my skills.
  3. 365 self portrait. This is pretty straight forward: take a self portrait every day. See my progress on flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/urothane/sets/72157622992286695/
  4. Bike more. Do yoga more. I am trying to do one or both each day, along with meditating. I want to get fit, have more energy and maybe try to bike a century ride this year.
  5. Get more tattoos. If you happen to have a tattoo studio and need some web work, lets talk trade.

Quotes

April 7th, 2008, posted in Enlightenment, Philosophy, Quotes

With the current conflicts around the world…some wars, some environmental, and some simply nonacceptance of others, this particular quote seems rather important.

It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it, helping each other, not destroying each other. – J. Krishnamurti

Let’s all take a moment and try to understand each other. If you can not understand, ask for an explanation and do not judge, just listen and inquire. If you disagree, simply state that you understand but disagree and respect the other opinion. If everyone were to take time to do this we can achieve world peace and eradicate racism.

Related: The Right View

The Right View

November 15th, 2007, posted in Enlightenment, Politics

I try to stay away from politics here, however this transcends the political world.

The world has many views in it. We all know that.

A great example is the current atmosphere regarding religious extremism. Certain religious sects think their religion calls for them to be violent towards non-believers. People not of this religion think this is just wrong. Even people within the religion wonder how holy texts can be interpreted in that way. Please note, I am not mentioning specific religions, as it happens in many religions.

The short of it is that everyone thinks their view is the “right” view and that they are justified in their actions because of their “right” view. Hitler thought he was right. Napoleon thought he was right. Hirohito thought he was right. Much of the world would disagree with them now. The reality is that there is no right view.

This is best summed up in this quote from Zhang Qingli, Tibet’s Communist Party leader regarding the Dalai Lama receiving the United States Congressional Gold Medal :

We are furious. If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice for good people in the world.

China has been long chided by non-communist countries for invading
Tibet in 1950. They have repeatedly been under scrutiny for their labor practices. In addition China is criticized for their censorship practices.

The Dalai Lama has long been recognized as a leader in human rights and peace negotiations. He is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Despite being the leader of one of the poorest nations in the world and having not been able to step foot in his home country for nearly 50 years; he is a world leader with as much respect as any Pope or President.

The fact that China clearly sees him as a rebel, traitor and miscreant
proves that the “right” view doesn’t exist. We as a people trying for
world peace can only try to understand the opposing view and acknowledge their right to differing opinions. We will never change them; hopefully we can convince them to respect our opinions the same way we respect theirs.

Learn tolerance, practice tolerance, learn understanding, practice understanding, learn appreciation, and appreciate everyone you meet for who they are. Only when we recognize, appreciate and tolerate will there be peace.