Totally mundane. I picked up my monthly prescriptions yesterday. The pharmacist, who is of Greek origin) greeted me with a cheerful Happy Passover. I replied, “And a Happy Easter to you.” Then I stopped and said, “Oh it comes a month later, doesn’t it?” “No, this year it is only a week later, the day Passover ends.” (After, I realized that is the day after Passover ends, but no matter.)
When recounting the story to my wife, I said to her that if only people could always so cheerfully accept all their differences, the world would be a hell of a lot better place.
Well, I’m doing my part. Going to church this Easter for the second time in my life and the first in 44 years. Because my wife loves her mother and I love my wife. There will be no bad attitude either, and my true feelings will be suppressed (except here). And I hear Easter dinner can be quite a treat.
I look forward to the day of reconciliation when the Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 will break bread with the Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912, united in a brotherhood of mutual respect reinforced by our shared disdain for the Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region.
well I mean of course that’s true and I suppose a “well done” is due for not treating each other with murderous contempt but it is somewhat ironic that you come to that conclusion as a result of an exchange of religious pleasantries.
I suspect many of the artifically manufactured differences you think stand between you and that person are, sadly, as a result of religious reinforcement.
Sounds like you experienced the Contact Hypothesis…
The four conditions (at least one can be met to reduce prejudice):
The members of the two groups have equal status. Allport believed that contact in which members of one group are treated as subordinate wouldn’t reduce prejudice—and could actually make things worse.
The members of the two groups have common goals.
The members of the two groups work cooperatively. Allport wrote, “Only the type of contact that leads people to do things together is likely to result in changed attitudes.”
There is institutional support for the contact (for example, if group leaders or other authority figures support the contact between groups).
You live in Montreal do you not? For the most part I find that Montreal is pretty special that way. IME here there seems to be a general, pragmatic acceptance of differences like what you’ve describe.
And you’re right that the world would be a hell of a lot better place.
Yes, I live in Montreal. Acceptance is good, but I really mean respect. Tolerance beats intolerance, but mutual respect beats tolerance. I came away from the exchange with a warm fuzzy feeling, which is why I recounted it to my wife. The pharmacist neither knows nor cares whether I am really religious and I neither know nor care about her religious beliefs. I have known her for probably 30 years and we just respect each other.
A few years ago, a class I was teaching had a few Muslims in it, and they were of course fasting for Ramadan. But a few of the non-Muslims were, too, just because they wanted to see what it was like for their Muslim friends. It warmed my heart.
