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LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) – 18 February 2007 Issue

Apathy is defined as the psychological term for a state of indifference. It is a condition where a person lacks emotion or enthusiasm and becomes unresponsive to situations involving his physical, emotional or social life.

For some people, apathy is a given medical or pathological condition. But for others, it is a mental reaction towards helplessness or even to a lack of interest on matters that one does not consider really important even if they really are.

It is an alarming situation when people no longer show some concern to others or about the society and the environment in which they live.

In his speech The Perils of Indifference during the 1999 Millennium Lecture series at the White House, American-Jewish Eliezer ‘Elie’ Wiesel, a holocaust survivor, political activist, novelist and a recipient of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, made a point on the evils of apathy when he delivered these lines:

“Is it necessary at times to practice it (indifference) simply to keep one’s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?

Of course, indifference can be tempting — more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbors are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.”

“In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.”

There is a creeping culture of apathy in Philippine society. Many Filipinos no longer wish to take an open stand between good and evil, to get actively involved in good governance or in looking after the welfare of others, or to do or pursue what is right even if it hurts or is inconvenient.

Who would have the audacity to stand as a witness to a heinous crime? How many would have the kind heart to share to others the little that he has? In seeing a victim or an injured along the road, would there be more people truly rendering assistance or would there be more curious onlookers? How common is it for people to take a moral stand or challenge the status quo even if it meant punishment or losing a privilege?

There is certainly a way to break this vicious pattern of indifference. The question is – who has the resolve?

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