While the distinctions between ‘apathy’ and ‘an overwhelming sensation of caring too much and having your mind shut down’ create different views of how humanity reacts, it still leaves us paralyzed. Emotions and action are still not happening whether it’s because they never existed or they were shut off or ignored. Either way, there’s no way to definitively prove the processes of thought and reasoning going on in peoples’ brains, is there?
However, on the other hand, unraveling why people do things or don’t do things is important because then we can begin to reason out solutions and ways to change their thought processes. Also, the assumptions we make about other humans and their motivations for doing things change the actuality of what humans are. If we project a reality based on cold bartering, where no one will help each other unless they get something in return, then we’re sending expectations that will be fulfilled by those we interact with. If we project a reality where conscientious caring is expected, where children are taught to love their grandmothers and the Earth they live on, then we are creating a community that will function with sustainability. It depends on the standards and the norms that we create in our culture.
This sort of change isn’t gratuitous, it isn’t something that you see coming about in a few years, and it isn’t easy. It’s something that you work at and hope for your entire life, that you try to impart to your children. If you enact this trust in strangers, in everyone you interact with, you’re going to be disappointed. Not everyone will live up to your expectations. That doesn’t mean you should give up on people or stop believing in the capacity for sacrifice and compassion.
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