While there is a lot of good in this world, it seems that recently any form of sympathy or humane action is hiding in the shadows. In a place with dictator-like political leaders, wars, and social injustice, it's hard to see a good side anymore. Several instances have occurred within the past few months that have lead me to believe that there should be an attitude adjustment within society.

We'll start locally. At work, there were two girls who sat in our hot tub. These girls looked as if they were straight from a magazine, bikini clad at an indoor pool. They sat on the far side of the spa, mumbling nonsense. That's what I thought it was, at least. They didn't appear suspicious or shady. However, it was brought up to me by a coworker that they were making fun of people as they entered the hot tub area.

The moment we were about to address the issue, they got up and left. No other person in the spa had seemed to notice their words or presence either. I felt disheartened by their behavior, and hurt by the fact that it probably made them feel really good about themselves to shit-talk other people.

This brought up greater injustices that have been witnessed from my coworkers on prior occasions. One spoke of a group of college kids making fun of an autistic child and his vocalizations. They had later denied the mockery, but claimed they "didn't realize he was autistic".

Another brought up rude parents or people they've seen out in the Free Speech Circle in front of our downtown student union. The past several days, extremists have been standing out and damning passers-by to hell. They've damned the LGBTQ community and claimed that education was bad because it pulled you farther from God.

I got to walk by it the other day, and I have never felt as if humanity could be more doomed. I understand that they are in a safe space to preach their freedom of expression, but there is a line that should be drawn when people feel threatened. People should not feel ashamed of who they are or their pursuits.

These conversations also lead to topics of sexual assault allegations in the news, as well as social justice movements that are being poorly treated by the government. It shouldn't be a cultural norm to sexually assault people, and race should never be a factor for anything more than statistic-related findings.

My simple answer to any of these topics was: knowledge is power. So, this had me thinking that, if people like these really had any knowledge or an inch of intelligence, they wouldn't be attacking others the way they are. These people that I've mentioned lack emotional intelligence or a substantial "emotional quotient". This is your capability to determine your own emotions or the emotions of others and label them correctly.

I've seen a larger population that does not care about how others feel. As someone who tends to care a little too much about a lot of things, it pains me to my core to hear or witness nasty things that people say and do. There are many flaws in society, yes, but we cannot confuse flaws with excuses. It's unacceptable, wrong, and unjust. We cannot go on living like this, living in hatred, if there is no attempt at a conversation.

So, talk about the things that scare you. Talk about what isn't right, and do something about it. If you don't, then you're just another bystander, and that is almost as bad as the acts themselves.