With suggestion after suggestion, and complaint after complaint, I realized that I just could not meet everyone's wishes and advice. I could feel my blood pressure rising. Tears began clouding my eyes. My voice cracked as I tried to defend myself from undeserved accusations. Finally, I blew up. It was a side of me that even I had never encountered.

Our youth group was planning a play for the Mother's Day celebrations. Always willing to help and be active members of the group, my two friends and I agreed to write the play with the help of other members. The play was about Mother Teresa and her loving service. Mother Teresa has always been a role model and inspiration for me, so I thought the task of writing a play about her and bringing it to life would be simple. We were quite excited and started working immediately. We expected the work to take about three days but had grossly underestimated the task!

Working on the play gave us the opportunity to interact closely with people and discover their talents. I learned several names and met many new faces. I also learned how to maximize the talents of everyone by assigning them to certain responsibilities. It was a difficult task to work around everyone's schedules for rehearsals. There were also many other obstacles in constructing this play. With our obvious inexperience and young age, the older young adults were not used to being directed by their younger peers. And our clemency gave way to many arguments about the characters, dialogue, and costumes. As our efforts became less tenacious, our attitudes changed. It went from mere tolerance to enthusiasm towards discovering the desired unity in the youth group.

On performance day, the miracle occurred! Unlike the practices and previous incidents, the actual play turned out to be spectacular. All the participants in the play were in harmony! The music was timed correctly, the dialogue flowed, and everyone showed up on time. The play revealed the unity we had acquired with this interesting experience. In addition, a year later, our youth group was very honored when we were requested to give our script to another center in a different location because they were pleased with our performance.

To me, the play was a success because of my shift in attitude. Initially, I was ignoring potential problems under the pretext of tolerance. I felt I had to tolerate everyone by complying with his or her demands. I misinterpreted people's comments by taking them personally. And in the end, all my pent-up angst was released in one burst because I could tolerate no longer. These are the effects and limitations of tolerance.

I later realized that I should have taken suggestions objectively and returned them with unconditional love. I should have used this criticism in a positive manner to improve myself. I also came to realize that I could rectify sticky situations only with a positive and altruistic attitude. With compassion and dedication, I learned to unite the members and work as a group.

Now, I have come to really appreciate everyone's interest and willingness to participate in this project. The script was enhanced by a joint effort of the talented writers, costume design and backdrops were prepared by the gifted artists, lighting and the PowerPoint presentation was provided by the adept technical people. Many others also contributed to the music and prop aspects of the play. With my new constructive attitude, I was able to proactively communicate with others and participate in the unified effort, thus generating a well-earned accomplishment as a group.

Working on this play helped me acquire a sense of unity with pervasive love. With Swami's grace and magnanimous guidance, I was able to experience and learn the significance of going beyond simple tolerance into unity and love.