Tis Never the season for apathy

During the holiday season, many focus on those less fortunate. However, I have experienced a few situations recently that have me feeling extremely concerned that many people in our community have lost the desire to care about others. I’m talking about the ones who spend more time figuring out a super-cute outfit than being a supportive friend to someone who’s going through a rough time. I’m thinking about people who spend many hundreds of dollars on expensive clothes, coffee drinks, or parties and don’t consider putting any effort toward fixing problems in their own life or helping organizations that offer support within our community.

Apathy happens when we fail to care about other people or have no concern for their struggles. I’m especially troubled when people think they’re too “fabulous” to care about our community or don’t feel the need to worry about others because they are fortunate enough to have a job and healthcare, and that’s all that really matters. It’s important to think about what really gives our lives meaning. If it’s more fulfilling to focus on the social scene than the people who surround us, you have more to worry about than just getting laid or having a blast — you’re giving up one of the most significant parts of being part of a larger community.

So many are forgetting about all the dedication, sacrifice, and thousands of hours of hard work it’s taken to gain life of acceptance and equality for our community. This reality was not achieved with the belief that someone else would pick up the slack and do something; we’ve made progress because people care and make efforts to change the world around us for the better. Even though less than five percent of our community engages in activities to make it stronger, those people bust their collective asses to advocate for us to have the right to live our lives as we desire, produce fantastic events, and ensure we have opportunities to congregate and have fun.

We have the ability to positively impact in the world. Our existence is not always a party and there are times where we can step away from our busy lives and focus on someone or something else. Our community has been strengthened most in times when we can identify opportunities to make changes. People don’t have to produce huge efforts or devote tons of hours to a dedicated project; sometimes these contributions are nothing more than taking the time to have a conversation with someone or identifying how your efforts could have a positive impact somewhere else.

I do understand focusing on ourselves much of the time. It’s important to keep our best interests in mind to build a successful life, but being self-centered or having an inflated sense of our own importance creates a dangerous reality where others don’t matter. It leads us down a road where we lose the desire to be thoughtful and compassionate to others. This destroys part of our humanity.

I think it’s time to do some re-assessment of our priorities and think about how we spend our time and energy. It’s not realistic for most of us to live a life of personal sacrifice like Mother Teresa or Gandhi, but stepping outside of our day-to-day world can be beneficial. Start with small efforts to get involved with an individual or organization that can benefit from your engagement.

It’s important to have a life full of excitement, passion, and purpose, but if you’re fortunate enough to have a bountiful life, then take some opportunities to share your energies and abilities with other people. At the very least, take some time out to care.