About caring:
I am less than 60 years old. Yet, inmy lifetime, I've noticed something troubling. Courtesy isdisappearing. When I was growing up, we were courteous to others. We addressed adults by saying Mr., Mrs., or Miss., with their lastname. We asked please, and said thank you. We, unless it were veryimportant, did not interrupt someone else, unless we were very goodfriends, or family, in an informal situation. We did our best tomake sure others could understand us. And we cared.
We reached out to our neighbors,welcoming new ones, saying goodbye to old ones, and waving or sayinghello to those around us. We would be emergency babysitters, theones to borrow things from, ones to have a quick chat with, ones tohelp. How many of us now even know who our neighbors are? Especiallyin apartments. We often don't even know the names of whomever livesnext door. We don't care.
Instead of writing letters andtelephoning friends and family, we toss of quick emails, update ourfacebook pages, or toss them a text. Yet we have the cellphone gluedto our ears, to the point of being upset when whichever serviceperson is trying to help us moves on to the next, rather than waitfor us to finish. Or they tell us to end our calls. Horror ofHorrors!! Then, when done, we get back on that phone and gripe towhomever we call about how rude it was of them to inconvenience us,never thinking of how much we inconvenience so many others. Or nevercaring.
After all, we are the ones that areimportant. Not our parents, our siblings, our children, or ourother, more distant, relatives, friends, or strangers. The world hasto shape itself to suit us, we don't have to fit it. We speak invarious made-up dialects like text speak, Ebonics, gangsta, and more,no matter who understands. And then we mock them when they ask us tospeak in plain English. How dare they ask us to accommodate others? We expect people to politely ignore our over-loud cellphoneconversations, while we snicker about theirs. We argue in the middleof the streets with people, but turn and gang up on anyone thatinterrupts. We ignore what others want, but demand that what we wantis paid attention to. We demand others care, while neglecting tocare, ourselves.
What happens when no one cares anymore? Anarchy. Every person will be out for themselves, every person willfight for what they want, and rip apart anyone that wants to take itfrom them. Including time. Whether verbally or physically, we willdefend our rights to be the important one. And chaos will reign,because no one cares.
I'm already seeing it, more and more. On the internet, the word troll fits and is used proudly by so manypeople. They brag about it when they force others to back down, oreven leave the website, game, or internet. They pick people andstalk them, online, just to get the thrill of it. They encouragepeople who say they are going to commit suicide, then disclaim anyresponsibility when the deed is done.
In the real world, we target variousethnic groups, and persecute them, in varying ways. We stereotypeand shove hateful labels on people, then call them liars when they donot fit. We use the term racism as a throwaway insult. Laughingwhen it is used on us, saying it can't be so. When we are called onsomething we use in that manner, we deny it, saying it is true,saying we didn't mean it in that manner, or saying that whomevercalled us on it is a racist, themself.
When and how is it going to end? Arewe going to stop caring, and slip into anarchy? Or are we going tostop having to be the important one, and care a little bit about whenwe hurt others?
We need to care. It will be thedeciding factor on if we, as a people, live, or die. We need tocare, because if we don't, no one will.
