Trap of Apathy

Have you ever seen a minnow trap? The two ends are shaped like funnels, narrowing down to a jagged end. The minnows enter the wide end and swim into the trap, unable to escape because they cannot find the tiny opening through which they entered. Really, our minds aren't terribly different from that of the minnow, except instead of being contained by steel mesh we are constantly finding ourselves trapped in our own ignorance. We take an illusion of knowledge and follow its intertwining wires until we are so far along that we aren't sure how to get out. Instead of escaping, we are trapped in the cage of apathy, and can only justify our utter ignorance by saying “I don't care” instead of “I did this to myself.”

There was a time when I attempted to teach a woman in Ecuador how to easily and economically purify her water by adding a tiny amount of bleach. Standing on the gray cobblestones of a steep street lined with cement buildings, we asked her if she would begin to purify her water. She put down her cigarette, puffed out her chest, and boasted to us that she never would never purify her water. I reminded her of the terrible implications of certain parasites commonly found in the drinking water, and she nodded her head and said “I know, I had a son who died from parasites when he was a teenager.” She never did agree to purify her water, and I could see that there was nothing so solid as pride in one's ignorance. She simply did not care, which meant that she was not accountable for change.

Jimmy Buffet effectively summarized the relationship between ignorance and apathy with his famous saying “Is it ignorance or is it apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care.” How many people refuse to vote in the presidential election because they claim to not be represented well! It is easier to complain than it is to take responsibility, something which our species seems to have developed beyond any other attribute.

It is always easier to not care, to watch instead of interact. How many of us admire those who are athletic, talented, musically inclined, intelligent, happy, and successful? If we admire them, then we should do something about it! When was the last time you tried to write your own story? Run your own race? Build your own table? Make your own music? As a great man once said, clear water runs on while still water becomes stagnant. Apathy and ignorance seems to be the best method of becoming stagnant, whereas taking responsibility and a little initiative may shake us up a bit but eventually filters out the gold which can make our lives priceless.