In these recent weeks as I walked around the city going about my day, work, etc., I’d look at people’s faces, observe their behavior. I’d wonder to myself “do they even know what’s going on? Do they understand the depth of what’s happening, do they think it doesn’t affect them?” Found myself wondering how they can be laughing, sitting in bars and restaurants so care free, going about as though nothing completely life altering is taking place politically? Or maybe they think because they’re White, have “good jobs” and earning ample salaries, live in fancy homes, eat in the latest restaurants, that they feel immune to and protected from any trouble or hardship, they’re untouchable. More to the point, even if it were true that some may not endure change or limitation by what’s being wrought, isn’t it enough that Others are and will? What about friends, nieces, daughters, cousins, co-workers, employees, the countless we don’t know? Just because something doesn’t impact YOU directly, why doesn’t it matter? Societally, culturally there’s complete lack of empathy, compassion, awareness of anyone else’s suffering; lacking awareness of the degradation of the many protections and freedoms all of us have lived within, no attention paid to ills of the world – as long as “I’ve got mine”. It’s a very disheartening time of self involved, self serving, is it Instagram worthy selfie time. This is an age of heightened selfishness, of seeing things only as one experiences in their own life, no concern for overarching implications, the plight of others and how that impacts us all. One of many symptoms that’s brought us to where we are in this country right now.
Browse Front PageShare Your IdeaComments
Read Elephant’s Best Articles of the Week here.
Readers voted with your hearts, comments, views, and shares:
Click here to see which Writers & Issues Won.