Hi all,
Darlene,
No, I think we're on the same page, here. Perhaps we're reading different paragraphs?
Seriously, I understand what you're saying. I have, for many years, adhered to a view expressed by Ramana Maharshi:
If the mind is happy, not only the body but the whole world will be happy. So one must find out how to become happy oneself. Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the whole world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
Still, I find it difficult (not impossible, just difficult) to accept that, simply because intolerance has existed since the beginning of time, it should be allowed to do so until the end of time.
We're not talking about educating the world here, Darlene; if,
by your example, you manage to help only one other person understand the value of tolerance, you will have accomplished an amazing thing, and a very worthwhile one. Last month, I told one of my female colleagues that I'm a crossdresser. She was shocked; I didn't seem like the kind of man who wanted to become a woman. She used to have a transsexual as a roommate many years ago and that roommate was her only experience with the world of the transgendered. So she and I talked long into the night; I explained to her the subtle and not so subtle differences between a TS and a CD, insofar as what I, myself, believe those differences to be. That night, education happened. No, it's not my moral duty to change others. It's my moral duty to change myself (hopefully for the better); if, in doing so, some light is shed in some dark corner of my surroundings, then all the better.
Darlene, nobody's asking that anyone give up their freedom. Still, I will ask, "in what, exactly, consists our freedom in a world in which we can never live completely apart from all other human beings?" You're a good case in point; your post has forced me to think and to clarify my own thoughts concerning this issue. In a way, education has happened here, also. And, for that, I can do nothing but thank you.
My original post had more to do with the possibility of striking a balance whereby my self-development and growth can happen along with the self-development and growth of the society I choose to live in.
So, basically, for me, it boils down to this: yes, the most important thing is to tend our own garden. But, then, we must share its bounty with the world at large lest our fruits and vegetables perish.
I never meant to appear dogmatic, Darlene. I'm truly sorry if my post has offended you; it wasn't my intention. I'm hoping that dialogue is possible, still.
Love,
CJ
By the way, girl, as Socrates used to believe, only a wise person knows she is a fool.
As long as we continue to rely on society for that very basic human need? Are we not throwing away our chance of being comfortable with our selves, 
