Apathy and Empathy

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.