I was driving through
Austin in rush hour, listening to my satellite radio, when one of my favorite
songs from the 1960s came on; I was a kid in the 1960s, so the '60s
protest songs were part of my childhood. I remember listening to my
transistor radio at night, falling asleep to the music of Woodstock, feeling
ill, even at 10 years old, as we watched the nightly news spell out the
casualty reports.
Everything I knew as a
child was colored by the Vietnam War, the deaths of President Kennedy, Robert
Kennedy and Martin Luther King. My dad was in charge of desegregating the
schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so I grew up watching my dad fight for the
rights of all races to have quality education without restriction. My
parents were deeply political and nationalistic, supporters of the troops in
Vietnam, so they were a bit concerned when their oldest child was singing war
protest songs, but they let me make up my own mind.
In high school, the War
was over and I went to college with soldiers recently returned from the
fighting, some wounded physically, almost all wounded emotionally and mentally.
There were no parades or cheering crowds as they came off the planes
bringing them home; instead, they were pelted with rotten tomatoes and eggs.
They had to hide their service, instead of wearing it proudly as they do
today.
I grew up during a time
of protest and social consciousness - REAL social consciousness. People
were truly concerned about the way the environment was being impacted, so we
went from throwing trash out the car windows to it becoming illegal.
Racial and gender equality, a truly needed change, was pushed through, to
more or less success. Gone were white-only bathrooms, drinking fountains
and sitting at the back of the bus; whether or not the changes were enough are
still being debated. And a war was ended because enough people were brave enough to stand up and say, "No more."
From this, because of
this and in spite of this, I became a strictly neutral person, not because I
don't care but because I found my own solution and do my best to make sure
others, on an individual basis, hear about it. So this is definitely not
about politics or political opinions on who is at fault or who has the right
idea.
I was listening to this
war protest song, wondering where all that has gone. No one would ever bravely stand in front of a line of soldiers with a flower. No one would stand in front of a tank, saying, "no more." No one really cares
any more. I talk to people every day who say, "It doesn't impact my
backyard, so I really don't care," or "I don't watch the news any
more because it's too depressing." They'd rather watch another hour
of "reality" tv, watching trashy women making their lives even
trashier and worshiping "celebrities" who are famous for no reason
other than making train wrecks of their lives.
Has the world become more
complacent or apathetic? What's the difference? Regardless of the
definition, to me, complacency is looking at the world and accepting it as it
is, not wishing to cause a fuss, just letting things go on because it doesn't
impact you. Apathy is looking at the world and saying, "I hate
what's going on in the world but I can't do anything about it, so I'll go over
here so I can't see it." It's the difference between "What
bombing" and "Oh, a bombing? Really? How sad? When
does Idol start?"
Even modern-day protests
are wimpy. Major US cities are allowing the KKK to march through the
streets and maybe 10 people show up to protest. "Christian"
groups, supposedly "God-fearing" people who are driven by hate and
not love, protest at the funerals of people killed by random acts of violence,
saying it was the fault of the person killed and no one stops them.
The real issues are
being ignored because it's too much fuss. It's easier and better to watch
a news story about the kid who won the local spelling bee than taking a hard
look at what's going on in Africa. Why? Because "those"
people don't look like us, don't live like us and are far away. Over 49
million Americans are living in poverty and more than 47 million go to bed
hungry, despite working 50+ hours a week at minimum-wage jobs. Yet it’s almost impossible to get news
coverage on those numbers because no one cares – “I have enough to eat and so
does my family. They’re obviously not
working hard enough.”
Regardless of your political,
religious, social or gender leaning, it’s time we all take a long hard look at
ourselves and start standing for something.
As an individual, what do you care about, other than your immediate
world? As an individual, when was the
last time you did something good for someone unrelated to you, who could do
nothing for you (and I’m not talking about handing a dollar to the guy standing
at the stop light with a sign, begging for money)? As an individual, have you slid into
complacency or apathy?
Come on. It’s time.
