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A pathetic way to be
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Published: September 30, 2008
The things that I take on, I soon shrug off
Because I know no one will ever be content
With the way things are, or with what they've got,
So I've given up and now I'm just indifferent.
The half of me's all about apathy,
And the other half just doesn't care.
I think our generation has an apathetic disapproval toward most things.
People join Facebook groups and buy bumper stickers protesting things like the impending gas crisis, but nobody ever does more than that. The groups and bumper stickers are just there so everyone who looks at your profile or car knows you disapprove of what's going on, but are still rather apathetic toward making a real change.
Peace and love have been manipulated into fashion statements to profit an industry that satiates our generation into an apathetic stupor. People like to buy clothes that say "peace" and "love" all over them, but what good does plastering these words all over you do? It may look cool, but what message is being sent when the same person with "love" stamped on them, or with peace signs hanging from their ears, is also wasting their time and breath degrading another person? There is no point in pretending to promote peace and love when you clearly don't. Peace and love are not a fashion statement.
People have tried to recreate Woodstock, the most idealized vision of peace, love and existence (and lovingly and peacefully coexisting), several times since 1969. Their attempts have failed miserably. Each attempt has become progressively worse: more expensive, more violent and further away from promoting harmony. (The fact that there are violent riots at an event with Woodstockian ideas is horribly ironic.) We say we want to take a step toward change like they did in the '60s and '70s, but we obviously don't want to badly enough to commit to making it successful. The idea of recreating Woodstock is awesome, but is it going to happen? Our generation needs another Michael Lane to organize it and another feeling of energized unity to make it work.
It is lovely to quote the Beatles, Gandhi or the Bible as one of your inspirations; but do you really attempt, on a semi-regular basis, to uphold what they promote? These are all great, inspirational people and works, but what's the point in associating yourself with them if you don't at least try to emulate a little glimmer of their messages? It's pretty pointless.
John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" was once the anthem for youth wanting change — until we actually listened to the lyrics, and, duh, read the title. Perhaps a more appropriate anthem would be Relient K's "Apathetic Way to Be," the song at the beginning and end of this article. While we're waiting on the world to change, in our apathetic glory and fashionable clothes, who is making a real change?
I'm not suggesting I'm the next Che Guevara with my attempts at activism. I belong to this generation, too. But seriously. We are plagued by apathetic disapproval.
(You could view this article as one of apathetic disapproval.
I've called your attention to a problem, but have I suggested a solution?)
I'm well aware that everything
Is a far cry from all right.
And possibly, the remedy
Is a dose of apathy:
You point your finger at you,
I'll point mine right back at me.
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