In a world full of technology and each person having an ever-expanding presence in the world, I continue to see an increase in apathy to improve the world. It was not until the latest tragedy to hit to the world did I begin to realize that the social media presence in the world presents the world with the biggest lies of all, online activism.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr all create a way for you to feel good about yourself and encourage the idea that you are improving the world around you somehow by changing your profile picture filter or using a hashtag a certain amount of times a day. This not only creates a false sense of accomplishment for the user because they are rallying behind a central cause, but this also attributes to the lie that social media is the ultimate tool to prove that you care. Don’t get me wrong I think social media is doing what it thinks is right and is always raising awareness for whatever is going on in the world. Facebook and Twitter are my main sources of how I get news and my timelines are filled with posts from MSNBC, Fox news, CNN and Huff Post. It’s the things that I watch people fight over that really began to fluster me, watching people post satirical comics, memes that take aim at a certain viewpoint or that one person who reads some news article and automatically becomes a political scientist.
I recently got into an online debate (because those always end well, right?) about the recent refugee crisis. Just a quick background on my side of the argument I take a moderate right stance, in that I don’t want refugees without a state approved vetting process that can be approved on by a state-by-state basis. I personally believe that in a country where 99 percent of the people are not native, it’s hard to turn away refugees and yet claim very American quotes like, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But, I understand the apprehension and agree with that as well, which is why all refugees, not just Syrian need to be properly reviewed before allowed in the nation. Anyways, the fellow I was debating with brought up the statistics of homeless veterans and civilians in America. A fair argument, but it did make me wonder, “Well Mr. Humanitarian, what exactly are you doing to help that?”
Then like a slap in the face it hit me, "What was I doing?" It was then I realized what was going on, I was moving in the same way as the people who complain the same way online and crying over what was happening in the world that I didn’t have any control over. For the past week I’ve thought about what exactly I could do to change the way I felt about myself and my own selfishness in the world. I honestly began to feel ashamed of all the free time that I had on my hands, I’m just a college kid…sure I have some organizations I’m involved in and two jobs, but I have so much time that it kills me that I didn’t think about this before I needed to have a keyboard activist from lord knows where inadvertently tell me that I have so much to be thankful for and have given so little back to the world that gave me so much.
Over the course the week I have been getting in contact with the various groups in my community that feed and clothe those in need to set up weekly times for me to come in and volunteer four to six hours of my free time. I have time now, in a few years when I’m in law school or in the work force I may not have the time to put in, so I’m going to do my best to be the change I want to see in this world and not sit behind a keyboard hash tagging everything what’s wrong and expecting a change.
The most often times I see people who think they can only have change if they know people in power or have exorbitant amounts of money to be able to bring change to the world. I won't say that having either of those qualities would hurt, anyone with more resources can always make a bigger impact. I would just like to challenge everyone to realize the amount of influence they have in their everyday life, and to use that power and influence in the most positive and uplifting way that they can. Don't sell yourself short, you offer more to the world than you know, Sign up here and start making the world a better place.
