Why global tolerance?

I never really knew what T.S. Eliot meant when he said that ‘April is the cruellest month’. But it is certainly a bittersweet time for me this year, as it marks my last month with global tolerance.

Some people may wonder why an English Literature student chose to take a year out of study to work for a communications agency. The answer is simple and I will even quote my colleague Mat, who studies Psychology at my university: ‘It was important to me to find a placement that I thought I could enjoy.’

And I have enjoyed my time with global tolerance. As I look back and reflect on my professional placement year, I am enormously proud to have contributed to the extremely worthwhile projects we have undertaken in the past nine months, and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from the amazing collection of individuals that make up the global tolerance team.

Robert Southey once said that it is ‘Better that [one] should follow the plough, or work at the loom or the lathe, or sweat over the anvil, than trust to literature as the only means of his support.’

Heavens, I thought, if that’s how a Poet Laureate feels, then I’d best take note.

In Ten Ways to Market Your Liberal Arts Degree, Hansen says that research shows that communication skills are by far the skills most sought after by employers, and rather than be fated to looms or anvils, I thought it may be wise to investigate career prospects in PR and communications. I have always been interested in communications as a concept. We live in a society composed of the lexicon, surrounded by words. These words act to inform us, entertain or unnerve us, make us cry, make us laugh, make us consume products and think in certain ways. Understanding the way that language works to appeal and persuade is part of understanding our world.

Malcolm X once said that the media is the most powerful entity on earth. ‘They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.’ My degree can provide me with an understanding and appreciation of the art of argument and persuasion – but only up to an extent. Working with global tolerance has opened my eyes the way that the media can distort, and create fear and intolerance – but also, reassuringly, it has shown me that it is possible to create positive news stories that can trigger social change. I also look forward to bringing the concept of ‘tole-ranting’ (looking for solutions instead of problems) and 'symbiotic communications’ (the idea of learning and sharing our values with others rather than just seeing what you can gain from them) to my seminars next year.

I would like to finish with a heartfelt thank you to the global tolerance team. I have never worked with such a diverse, compassionate or talented group of people in my life, and I am certain I will be following your progress and success long after this month is through!

Follow Steph and the global tolerance team on Twitter.