If you've been paying attention to the news recently or even just scrolling through the Internet at all, you've noticed that the world is in trouble. Each tragedy strings the days and months together, and people bounce around their political and humanitarian outrage depending on what particular topic makes the biggest mark on the world that particular day. Today it's the Syrian refugee crisis, yesterday it was terrorism, the day before it was racism in America, and at one point it was climate change. Tomorrow it will probably be something else.
We will cycle through these major issues, ignoring the ones that are not currently capturing the attention of the media. Perhaps you'll start turning off your television or clicking on articles altogether because you've decided that the issues are too large or that they do not specifically affect your daily life. It's easy to overlook tragedy when it's not at your front door. You've got other, more important things going on.
I’ll admit it -- the suffering in the Middle East wasn’t on my mind at all until November 13, and I know that the situation is the same for millions of others as well. Now people are paying attention, but in that attention, the many Americans have brushed aside the events at Mizzou that they were so passionate about the day before. That conversation has once again been pushed aside. Like the conversation about global warming. Like the conversation about racism. And soon the conversation about terrorism will once again be pushed aside in favor of something else or for nothing at all. Most tragically, the conversation about terrorism will be pushed aside for boredom; we are too tired to talk about something we already discussed.
We cannot let that happen. We cannot forget. We cannot let these problems simmer and build while we either deal with other things or deal with our own lives. The planet will not forget. The Syrian refugees will not forget that they are without homes. The earth will not cease to undergo climate change because we do not have time to think about it until the polar ice caps have vanished. ISIS will not forget about what they have done and what they want to do. They will not slip back into apathy. It is their greatest strength and our crushing weakness.
No, you can’t worry about the world all the time. You can’t let these problems stop you from living your life. That is precisely what ISIS wants. Chaos draws strength from your panic. You can be fearful – you would be an idiot not to be scared - but you must also be brave.
So continue to live your life, but don’t let these problems go unnoticed because you're too preoccupied with that next exam or your new job. There's an entire planet out there much larger and much more important than our own lives, and the problems of that world will eventually catch up to us if we don't face them head on.
We need to make sure, as a nation and as a planet, that fighting for good is our first priority. We can’t change the channel because we’re tired of seeing violence in the Middle East or rising ocean levels on our televisions. We need to take action. We need to make sure that our political leaders have the right priorities. We need to make sure that we have the right priorities. We need to use words to educate the masses. We need to stand up for what we really want and steer the future in the right direction. We need to dedicate our time and effort to make a difference. The world is changing, and we need to make sure that it's changing in the right direction.
So don’t allow yourself to slip back into apathy again. The world depends on it.
