Tolerance means accepting and respecting the views, actions and customs of others and is a central characteristic of democracy. Tolerance is also an important prerequisite for equality, diversity and the avoidance of exclusion. Tolerance is of great importance in social discourse. It is discussed, for example, in connection with religiosity, sexual inclinations, cultural differences and alternative value systems and communities. The limits of tolerance lie where others are denied this basic form of respect and equal treatment. However, the responsibility for ensuring that these limits are respected cannot be completely ceded to the state. In the first place, it is the people themselves who are obliged to practice tolerance and to treat others with forbearance, patience and mindfulness.

Friendship refers to a relationship characterized by affection and based on mutual sympathy, appreciation and trust. Friendships are of great importance for our social interaction. Aristotle described friendship as “one soul in two bodies”. Cicero recognized \u201a secure friend in an uncertain situation\u201c. Friendship with another person, moreover, is also accompanied by a perpetual deepening of self-knowledge in the other person. In a figurative sense, friendship also refers to a good and often contractually regulated political relationship between peoples or nations (e.g. “deutsch-französische Freundschaft”).

Compassion describes the sympathy for the situation of another individual and is a natural human ability. One’s own feelings resonate with the feelings of another living being. In sympathizing with the feelings of others, people learn to better deal with their own emotions. A variation of compassion is empathy, which helps people to empathize with the thoughts of the other person, to understand them, to respond to them and to react accordingly. Compassion for other human and non-human beings requires acceptance of one’s self and love for oneself.