The Weight of Indifference is Crushing

"And if you cannot remain indifferent, you must resolve to throw your weight into that balance in which the fate and condition of man is weighed." -- Lajos Kossuth
 

Strong words old Lajos said. They seem to have a particularly strong significance during election time. And WOW, the whopping lies that are being told to us. I don’t have enough time in the day to try to truth-check what is coming out of the mouths of people. I think that this is how anarchy starts to take root and grow.

Indifference is something that I am never accused of, but I have never really sat and contemplated what to do about it. I have actually wished to have that type of attitude—one of not being indifferent--lifted from me, because it appears to be joyful at times to be free of having to care about some things and some people. Serial killers, fracking, telemarketers and such. Forgive me if you fit any of those categories and please don’t call me to help contribute to your defense, election or other fund. Especially over the phone at my dinner meal time.

There are times that I definitely feel that “my give-a-damn” is broken but it is only spotty and random times. I have had to grow more quiet and contemplative recently, practicing placing the tongue on the roof of my mouth as to prevent me from speaking my mind which lately leads to much grief (try it and you will find it a fascinating technique to achieve and maintain a state of silence but do it with your mouth closed or you look pretty stupid).

All this need to be, do and say is leading me to a life of constant, silent acquiescence, where I don’t talk much anymore because I feel I have said all that I have had to say. Or all anyone wants to hear from me at least. I feel myself brooding and even tell the wife when she asks me that “I am brooding.” And no one seems to be really listening anymore and that is a shame. Part of the reason I suspect people have quit listening is that they are always being shouted at rather than being spoken to politely.

So I need to find a way to find that “resolve to throw your weight into that balance in which the fate and condition of man is weighed” part of the equation. My big problem with it is it tends to be a way of forcing my opinion of right and wrong on others. I believe everyone is entitled to their own unique stupid opinion.

So which direction to throw my resources at? I need to just find the right lie.

 

Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (aka Lajos Kossuth; September 19, 1802 – March 20, 1894) was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.

Balance and Indifference

And if you cannot remain indifferent, you must resolve to throw your weight into that balance in which the fate and condition of man is weighed. -- Lajos Kossuth

What a difficult choice it is to stand up and do what is right. How scary is it to risk important security blankets of your thoughts, words and deeds that you have surrounding you. How utterly frightening it can be to cope with a change that gets thrust upon you. It can feel like a sucker-punch to the guts—painful and lasting—slowly mending if it ever completely does. If you’ve ever had bruised ribs, compare the pain and healing involved.
So much of how we react is tied into the personality of people. The same incident may want different responses to heal it—curl up in a ball, cry, grow angry, feel physical sickness, punch something--personally done them all, sometimes over the same conflict.
But after the initial reaction wears off, what do you do? Well I would look closely at Lajos Kossuth’s quote that I led with. Quit thinking of yourself and start thinking about others, how to improve the conditions of the planet and the human beings that have to live on it. Many of them truly are suffering and are abused and hungry and sick.
Or, I suppose you could remain indifferent. But before you decide that course, Google Biafra, Auschwitz or your local food bank.

Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva; September 19, 1802 – March 20, 1894 was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.

Opposites

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. -- Elie Wiesel

I am troubled by the word "indifference." As in Wiesel's above quote, he blames it for almost everything that could happen that is bad. In the world. In our beliefs. In our way of living. How many times a day do we casually say "I don't care" about things we are asked? Or "I don't know" as an answer to an inquiry about something. That is indifference to the importance of the person asking the question, requesting dialogue. It is a discarding of that moment, instead of capitalizing on an opportunity to love.

I think it was Wiesel that said something about how while he was interred in Buchenwald as a Jew during WWII, that he quit believing in the Jewish God. That was his awakening, how to believe in a God and also believe in such a place as the Nazi death camps. Both existing at the same intersection of historical time. His own self, his eternal soul, present at this place and time. He perceived the God of his faith as indifferent. I have thought the same thing at different times in my life. When my son's close friend was killed on a motorcycle at the age of twenty. How could such a painful sentence be handed down to his parents. How could "love" and "God" fit in to the scheme of that incredible grief that surrounded that moment?

So agree with Wiesel, indifference is our enemy. We cannot allow indifference to claim another endangered species, another abused child or a planet that will offer an unhealthy environment for the next generation. Our indifference cannot condemn the future.

I want there to always be tigers, clean air and a God.
 

Former Buchenwald prisoners - Elie Wiesel's face is visible on the second row, fourth from the left, by the vertical wooden beam.