In my opinion, tolerance is the major element of any relationship. No matter how much you'll think you have in common with someone, there will be very large amounts of stuff you
don't have in common. And I think it's how you deal with those parts that define whether or not a relationship, whatever form it may be, will be successful.
For example, I happen to like law. A lot. I enjoy thinking about it, and trying to understand it and working out how all the jurisdictions fit together. I'll often complain about stuff I read I didn't understand, or I'll try explain that having to write judges notes, when I'm a third year law student, on advanced articles regarding psychiatric injury and the potential future overlap of NSW and WA Civil Liability Acts in terms of a duty of care and its requirements, is really unfair but surprisingly fun. Of course, I try to restrict how much I talk about substantive law, as opposed to just 'oh I went to uni and saw this ridiculous thing while I was in a law tute' kind of thing. That kind of law discussion is a bit different. But I really really enjoy the substantive law stuff.
There's a person I spend a lot of time with, and they do not like law. They couldn't care less about law, or mooting, or Trial Ad, or the potential overlap of CLAs. But what's nice is they try to care. Or they at least let me rant on for quite a while before saying 'aaaannnddd stopping time!' I think that's what makes it nice to spend time with people; when you learn to care about their passion, and they learn to care about yours. Even if secretly you/they hate it a lot.
So really, in sum, I think relationships, be it friendship or otherwise, thrive better when there's tolerance. I can't decide if the cycle starts where you're tolerant of someone because you like them, or because you're being tolerant, you find you like them more, but either way, it makes you happier:) And if you decide you aren't tolerant of something someone's passionate about, likely you aren't going to get along with them very well. Maybe it's a sign.
And... there ends my tolerance reflection. Law-time!
