Apathy plagues a materialistic world
Reach out to those around you, follow current events
Collin Bourgeois
Issue date: 10/16/06 Section: Editorial/Opinion
You people out there who said at one time that you will do those good deeds when the time comes - this is your time. Your good deed, the deed of every citizen of the United States, is to act. How many of you, my readers, are registered to vote? Out of those who are registered, how many are actually going to vote? Personally, I am afraid that the percentage of students who answered yes to the first question is too small to even qualify the second question as relevant.
Our generation lives in an era of total comfort comparable to that of empirical Rome or Byzantine. We have unlimited information at our very fingertips, all the leisures of instant electronic entertainment, vehicles to drive ranging from 1996 Geo Prizms to 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipses, variably affordable higher education, parties around every corner, substance to either drown our sorrows in or raise us to states of manufactured ecstasy and, of course, the mother of all indulgence - Las Vegas. Now I'm going to re-type a question for you and display some other possible answers. What were you thinking when our government announced that we were going to war?
How does this sound for answers: tomorrow's paper, tonight's dinner, "Grey's Anatomy," that local rock concert, this weekend's house party, my boyfriend's going to Iraq, a roommate's high-score on Guitar Hero, the next song on your iPod, a brand new winter jacket, tuition, tattoos, piercings, or maybe Friday's paycheck?
Yes, we are thinking and we are acting. Hence there is a steady flow of material possessions in our society. But don't you feel happy - don't you feel proud - when you complete a task for someone else's betterment? When you do that good deed, be it the clichéd random act of kindness or the obligated duty you signed up for, do you not feel a swelling of pride? Does, indeed, your chest feel like you've just huffed a bag of minty effervescence? And likewise, when someone else, either estranged or well-known, bestows a deed of kindness in your direction, do you not feel the gratitude?
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted you to act. He wanted you, those with courageous hearts, to open your arms and your eyes and help each other. Fulfill that wanting to be a good soul. I'm not asking you to revolt, riot or rise up. That's for when we are truly oppressed. Instead, start acting in this way - when walking to class, do not once look at the ground below you. Look in the eyes of every person you pass and simply smile. This is a small action, but an action nonetheless. And it is one I am sure all of you, my readers, can do.
Our generation lives in an era of total comfort comparable to that of empirical Rome or Byzantine. We have unlimited information at our very fingertips, all the leisures of instant electronic entertainment, vehicles to drive ranging from 1996 Geo Prizms to 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipses, variably affordable higher education, parties around every corner, substance to either drown our sorrows in or raise us to states of manufactured ecstasy and, of course, the mother of all indulgence - Las Vegas. Now I'm going to re-type a question for you and display some other possible answers. What were you thinking when our government announced that we were going to war?
How does this sound for answers: tomorrow's paper, tonight's dinner, "Grey's Anatomy," that local rock concert, this weekend's house party, my boyfriend's going to Iraq, a roommate's high-score on Guitar Hero, the next song on your iPod, a brand new winter jacket, tuition, tattoos, piercings, or maybe Friday's paycheck?
Yes, we are thinking and we are acting. Hence there is a steady flow of material possessions in our society. But don't you feel happy - don't you feel proud - when you complete a task for someone else's betterment? When you do that good deed, be it the clichéd random act of kindness or the obligated duty you signed up for, do you not feel a swelling of pride? Does, indeed, your chest feel like you've just huffed a bag of minty effervescence? And likewise, when someone else, either estranged or well-known, bestows a deed of kindness in your direction, do you not feel the gratitude?
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted you to act. He wanted you, those with courageous hearts, to open your arms and your eyes and help each other. Fulfill that wanting to be a good soul. I'm not asking you to revolt, riot or rise up. That's for when we are truly oppressed. Instead, start acting in this way - when walking to class, do not once look at the ground below you. Look in the eyes of every person you pass and simply smile. This is a small action, but an action nonetheless. And it is one I am sure all of you, my readers, can do.
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