In my lifetime, I’ve had quite a few enemies. The list includes but is not limited to: my roommate from my first year of college, a guy who fat shamed and slut shamed my friend online, and a girl who made a joke about my friend who died. That last one is the one that makes me the angriest, but the one that I find the most irritating is apathetic people. The people who don’t care about anything, and show no concern about serious issues. The people who say, “that doesn’t affect me” or “why should I care?” These people are the main part of the problem.
Let me tell you something…everyone should care! You should have opinions about things. One of the major reasons why a lot of terrible things are happening in the United States and in other countries is because no one does anything. People aren’t voting or participating in protests or signing petitions or taking action of any kind. It’s the most frustrating thing to me. You should not sit by and watch unjust things happen just because it isn’t happening to you or someone you care about. The idea of oneness in Hinduism means that we are all connected, we are all a part of each other, there is no difference between each of us. You should care about what happens to all people, every single one.
I hate to be that guy, but people sitting idly by and watching is exactly how Hitler was able to commit terrible acts to millions of people for such a long time. People just sat back and let it happen because they didn’t think it would happen to them and the bystander effect took its toll. As Lisa Borden once said, “If you aren’t outraged, then you just aren’t paying attention.”
Stop sitting back and letting bad things happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re apathetic because you are not personally affected or because you think someone else will do something or because you think it is not your responsibility. Start giving a fuck about things. It matters.
