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Volume 40, Issue 10.
February 25, 2003
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Civic duty or complacent apathy
By Carly Schorman
News Editor
This generation, my generation, has brought more change to the world than
any other before us.
Family structure has been completely redefined.
Violence has taken a more detached or random form. Computers, globalization,
environmental concerns, and “weapons of mass destruction” have
been a part of our lives since birth.
The internet and cell phones are just two examples of technology that
have condensed the whole world into bits of information.
The result is information overload.
The entire world is accessible with the click of a mouse.
How do you defend yourself against the assault of information forced at
us through media and other sources.
Apathy.
Shut yourself off to the world and its problems will no longer suffocate
you.
Desensitized is the word applied to the young adults and children of today.
This is where the concern lies.
Many that have reached voting age don’t exercise their right.
In a world so overwhelmingly large, one person doesn’t count.
It is this mindset that must be dispelled . . . fast.
As a whole, we are uneducated, unaware, and devoid of any sense of civic
responsibility. Consequently, we are likely going to a war that
we will have to fight whether or not we agree with the principles behind
it.
The aftermath of this war will also be ours to deal with.
The relations the United States develop now will determine who our allies
and enemies are when our leaders step down and we are forced to take over.
No one cares.
Americans are not held in the hearts of other nations, although we are
told otherwise.
It took the collapse of two towers to show the youth, and many adults,
that Americans are not untouchable.
But did anyone pause and question what would make men sacrifice their
lives and the lives of so many innocent people for a political statement.
I hope so, but I am doubtful.
Guerrilla tactics are being used on our own soil, but instead of hiding
in forests and jungles, they are hiding in crowds.
If we don not employ diplomacy this will be a fear we will have to face
for the remainder of our lives.
Still no one cares.
Nations around the globe harbor sympathy for our enemies as a result of
the United States’ police-the-globe approach to foreign relations.
People around the world may cheer if America falls, like the fall of the
U.S.S.R.
We idly sit back while our leaders allow hate to fester and grow abroad.
And no one cares.
The political actions being planned now will be carried out by us, the
trouble that follows war will face us, the world destroyed by the repercussions
of a large scale war in this age will be ours to try and live in.
This is not to say that everyone passively tolerates the problems around
them.
There are people writing letters, protesting, and voting.
The number of people under 30 who stood against the war on Feb. 15 at
the protest in Phoenix offered hope that the future leaders might actually
have interest in the actions of today’s leader.
Now, more than ever, everyone must pay attention to the events in America.
Our lives are being reshaped without our consent because no one knows
we are supposed to give it.
The children to come will have to live on a planet ravaged by our lack
of interest.
Or these children may not come at all if we can not overcome the repercussions
of our disinterest in the world.
Someone should care.
Everyone should care.
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