"Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all--the apathy of human beings."--Helen Keller
Apathy, the lack of interest or concern about what takes place in the world, is one of the greatest threats to the future of all of us. It is not sufficient to just avoid doing harm to others. We must care about what happens to them. We must be concerned when we see abuse or injustice. We live in an "I don't want to get involved" age. We hear of people standing idly by when others are being injured or even killed. So many people complain about social problems, but only a few are willing to try to do anything about them. Certainly we don't want to be reckless in dangerous situations. Sometimes the most we can do is call for help. But we can at least do that.
More than 200 years ago, Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and philosopher said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." This statement is just as true today as it was 200 years ago. When we do nothing about any problem, aren't we contributing to that problem? When we see suffering around us and do nothing about it, don't we bear some responsibility for it? When we see injustice and refuse to speak out against it, aren't we implicitly accepting it?
We must be realistic about what we can actually do. None of us can change the world by ourselves. But we can all make some contributions toward making the world a better place for all people. That is all that is asked of us. If we believe that all individuals are important, and that we all have a responsibility to try to make life better for others, as well as ourselves, then we will behave in such a way as to make our contributions to the common cause.
But, if we take the attitude that unless a problem affects us directly, it is of no concern to us, we become guilty of apathy. We must all recognize that sins of omission can be just as devastating to a society as sins of commission. We are all on the journey of life together. And most things that have an adverse effect on our fellow human beings will eventually affect us also. Is it sufficient to just avoid doing harmful things to others? Or do we have an obligation to take positive steps to try to correct problems even though they are not of our own making?
Copyright 2014 Allen W. Smith
TB-66—Posted 06/10/2014
