Tolerance

"Plea For Tolerance"

If we but knew what forces helped to mold
The lives of others from their earliest years—
Knew something of their background, joys and tears,
And whether or not their youth was dear and cold,
Or if some dark belief had taken hold
And kept them shackled, torn with doubts and fears
So long it crushed the force that preserves
And made their hearts grow prematurely old,—

Then we might judge with wiser, kindlier sight,
And learn to put aside our pride and scorn. . .
Perhaps no one can ever quite undo
His faults or wholly banish some past blight—
The tolerant mind is purified, reborn,
And lifted upward to a saner view.

Margaret E. Bruner.