Martes, Oktubre 23, 2012



Losing In Life by Default
I was running so fast and ‘IT’ was chasing me. I know it’s only a dream for how could I be able to run that fast away from ‘IT’? Nevertheless, I continued running and thrice I was able to outrun ‘IT’. ‘IT’ is referred to physical death and this scenario is nothing more than a vividly frightening dream. Still, that dream may not be as nearly as frightening as living in a society which promotes culture of death.
Now in retrospect, that dream is not much different from what most of us are doing right now which is frighteningly running away from reality; that we are finite beings, bounded by time unaware of our own expiree dates. The more we run from reality, conscious only of our individual existence, the more we let ourselves die. But I digress, who would not get scared with how we personify ‘IT’ as a hooded skeleton carrying a scythe strangely looking so much like your terror professor, right? But try to imagine ‘IT’ as your favourite soap opera actor/actress? Did it go down a few notches in the scary-o-metre?
Point being is that IT could have just been a victim of societal misrepresentations. But sadly the reality of IT makes us anxious and self-absorbed. The more we run from the reality of It, the more we fail to live, the closer we are from another kind of death—not the physical but the spiritual one.
I’ll refer to this process of spiritual death as apathy. The concept is actually biblical. What does the bible say about apathy?
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
The dictionary definition of apathy is not quite far from that of the bible’s description. Dictionary defines apathy as the lack of feeling or emotion; impassiveness.
 Apathy simply is the absence of love. When you get fixated with your survival alone, you become oblivious of others, you embrace apathy.
It’s not actually hate which is the opposite of love but apathy. It’s not also money which is the root of all evil but apathy.
I can never agree more with Hellen Keller when she said that “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings.
In sociology we have the term “bystander effect”. It is when there’s dissolution of responsibility felt by a group of people. According to Psychologists most of the time people won’t be helping somebody in need of assistance or those who are in danger if they are in a group.  Bystander effect is also known as bystander apathy.
One popular example was the Kitty Genovese case.  Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in the presence of allegedly 38 witnesses over a period of thirty minutes without having anyone to help the victim. This happened on 1984.
Apathy is dangerous. It kills you and the people around you. How? By simply not doing what you were supposed to do. ( James 4:17 ) In life you lose to apathy by default.  We don’t even have to go as far as to search for bizarre cases abroad to understand apathy. In Philippines apathy is slowly becoming a way of life. Makes you wonder if it’s really more fun in the Philippines.
Apathy in Philippines has led to corrupt government that continually burdens Filipinos by pocketing the taxpayer’s money, leaders who focus more not on the Filipino’s welfare but their personal vendettas, legislators sleeping on their work, non-thinking voting populace, mediocre and lacklustre educational institutions, highly commercialized and politicized media which provide sensationalized news and cheap entertainment shows leading to a more misinformed public, non-thinking non-reflecting mob who readily disregard the rule of law, storms outside and demand for changes they are not ready for, commerce without conscience  with business in the hand of the Oligarchs who provide less quality service and products at a higher cost, not competitive workforce and there’s YOU and Me on the list which goes on.  
To sum it up: Apathy leads to a dysfunctional society promoting a culture of death.  With apathy everybody loses. However, we can change this scenario by not running away and facing our reality. Our country may be in a terrible state yet it is a work in progress; our gratitude to those who truly care and are still LIVING. We all are a work in progress. Let’s help in that work of rebuilding by staying alive and strive never to lose to apathy by default.
I believe in the end we will all be measured against this universal standard which is love. How much love did you put on your work? How dedicated are you in your field? How committed and passionate are you in your goals? How much effort do you give on everything you do?  How much do you care?