The United States of Apathy, sometimes I feel this should be our nation’s new name. We have become so comfortable and self absorbed in our lifestyle that we often fail to see how other people are made to suffer so that we may maintain our way of life. How many of us have really thought about what this impending war will do to the people in that region? There are real people who will be made to suffer by Saddam Hussein and the United States and its allies. This war will be taken to the streets of Baghdad. I am saddened by the potential loss of life. I am saddened by the inevitable suffering and destruction that will happen. The balance sheet does not balance for me. I have contemplated this war to a possible logical conclusion. A conclusion that will bring on more suffering that will spill out from the borders of Iraq. Best case scenario. A dictator will be deposed. A country will be in anarchy. A new “democratic” government will be established. A decade long occupation by allied forces. Economic upheaval, disease, destruction of cities that have stood for thousands of years. Fundamentalism will see a resurgence. Israel and Western countries will be the main targets. Many more countries will experience death and destruction on a scale that is yet to be seen.

All of these things are reasons for sadness but there is one thing that saddens me even more than these atrocities. It is at the core of our society and plagues us like a virus. It is the main reason the current administration is in power and it is one of the main reasons we are traveling down a road toward the inevitability of war. Apathy has poisoned our society to a state of complacency and inaction. I am always amazed when I hear from friends that their vote does not count, that public protest doesn’t do any good and that I should not waste my time when I believe that I have been unfairly treated by some business or organization. “Just let it go.”, “You are wasting your time.” Or “These war protests won’t do any good.” I have actually heard these words over the past couple of weeks from friends. I thank God for all the heroes from the Civil Rights and Women’s Suffrage movements. Their courage give me comfort that protest is not in vein and it also re-enforces the fact that our democracy does work. I can only see despair in the path of apathy but the path of action brings hope. In the famous words of Rev. Jesse Jackson, “Keep hope, Alive!”