The Rant
Michael Sampson
Issue date: 3/16/10 Section: Opinion
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My reply to her was pretty simple, "Why not?"
Why not "save the world" or do all I can do in my power to make sure it is a much better place than when I came in it? Why shouldn't anyone reading this, not have that same mindset? A mindset in which they feel the need to do something important and substantial, that is much bigger than meeting their own selfish interests.
With such huge problems in the world, it appears to me more and more everyday that the biggest problem facing society can be explained in one single dark word. Apathy.
Apathy is the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. Apathetic individuals are people who show no concern when it comes to the many problems facing our future.
Apathy is a disease.
I am fortunate to be a volunteer coordinator at one of FSCJ's campuses. In that role I have the ability to help assist others with volunteering.I have seen amazing things, such as charities that perform a wonderful service to people and also fellow students with a genuine urge to help change society through volunteering.However, I have also seen a lot of apathy.
In this short experience I have seen a lot of individuals with a very self-serving nature without the will or urge to do anything to benefit others.
Like I said in a previous column, many people simply don't care about anything that doesn't pertain to benefiting them.
Why? Quite simply, it seems they suffer from apathy. They feel no obligation to help others or "change the world" because to them it makes no difference.
How foolish must an individual be to believe or follow such a simplistic and erroneous mind frame?What if Martin Luther King Jr. had had such a mindset? What if Mahatma Gandhi had not felt the obligation to resist England's imperial oppression in India? What if every great individual, who has ever made a significant contribution to changing the global, socio-economic climate at their specific moments in history, had chosen the path of self-preservation and self-interest? How would the world look now?
The suffering that exists in the world today stems from apathy it seems. People simply don't care so they do nothing about addressing the problems that continues to plague society now.
Whether it be through volunteering or making people aware of issues that need changing, I ask that you do all you can to "save the world" one person at a time. Don't continue to allow societal injustices to plague the globe without doing something about it.
It is your prerogative whether you become an apathetic sheep or join a team of change.
The ball is in your court.
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