Apathy is by definition a “Lack of interest, concern,
or emotion; indifference.” It is what is happening to our world…to us as
individuals. We are numbed by the bombardment of media images of pain,
suffering, violence and death making it difficult to process the horrors taking
place in the world…so we shut down, click to the next screen, and scroll past
the unpleasant posts. I have seen comments from people that include: “if you
are living a good life, why not leave well enough alone” REALLY? Is it just about
us and our comfort? I sometimes think that compassion lessons with the increase
in technology.
On the other hand, empathy is “the power of
understanding and imaginatively entering into another person's feelings.” It is
the connection of one human being to another for no other reason than because we
share a humanity.
Is it possible for us to reverse the trend? Is it possible
for us to genuinely feel the pain of a mother or father who has lost a child to hunger,
murder, or illness? Or to imagine what it must be like to live in fear of your
government, have bombs drop on your village, or live in a refugee camp for
years on end?
We, (and I use that term in the most Western sense) rather
than sit complacently in our comfortable lives, should rather feel a need to
create a world in which all children can go to school, eat at least two meals a
day, and where parents have the ability to work, provide basics like clothing
and shoes. Or where girls are not raped on the subway or on the way to the
latrine, where public servant actually means serving the public, and where we
care enough about our environment that we treat for what it is…the thing that
gives us all life.
I am not speaking as one “holier than thou” because I
am as guilty of falling into the apathy trap as anyone. But it is time to stop
pretending that we have not created a greed filled culture in which money talks
and honesty, truth, compassion, and love have lost their meaning. I am calling
out the “religious” who quote the Bible while shaming their neighbor, and
vilify anyone who does not accept their “teaching” as correct. I am calling out
the presidents, prime ministers, legislators and judiciary who “serve” the
people while imposing laws that suppress freedom of speech, assembly, liberty,
and belief. I am calling out the teachers who sit back while their classrooms
are turned into factories for sedated students and places where creativity and
individuality is banned. And I am calling out each of us to really look at those
around us, to feel for one minute the pain or loss or desperation that they are
feeling and to find a way, human to human, to empathize.
