Apathy...opiate of the masses....

The ability to evaluate and the capacity to consciously change themselves and their surroundings set humans apart from their animal cousins; opposable thumbs, use of tools, and forms of speech are not unique to this species of 6 billion and cannot explain humankind’s drastically different development. We see our environment and we alter it; we may make rational decisions, choose among several choices, consider abstract concepts such as good and bad, moral and immoral, right and wrong, and distinguish between them. We judge a situation, and we act on this judgement—or not.

Humankind suffers from the disease of apathy: for all our philosophy and altruism, so little of the potential of these combined qualities translates into actual action. So many eyes are blind, not only to the greater sorrows of our world but also to the smaller—and the greatest moral dilemma faced by your average Westerner is whether or not to give spare change to the man with the sad eyes and the scruffy beard. It takes greater tragedy to motivate the masses, and even then tragedy pales in comparison to personal interest where actual action is required and simple moral outrage no longer suffices. Even among the all-to-long list of global sorrows, Free Tibet and Save Darfur do not evoke the riots of labor contracts in France; stories of mayhem in the Middle East score well below the latest celebrity scandal on CNN or BBC.

It’s all a matter of perspective. We take for granted so many things, small as well as large, and the sum of these assumptions compose our worldview. My worldview is limited to the United States and Germany, and though by and large the way of life is similar in these two “western” countries, even the little differences make me realize how much I assumed to be true because I have always known it to be so: how to open doors or windows; how to flush toilets, make tea, or greet strangers; where to place your hands when eating and which way to look while crossing the street. I’ve met people of all walks of life, strangers as well as natives; I have met people faced with decisions I will never have to face by benefit of my blue passport and my “middle class” upbringing, and I have options and choices they will never have. Realizing how much I had taken for granted makes me realize how little I have actually seen, how sheltered I have been—I have seen so little of the world. So many places I know only from stories and pictures. Some of these stories and pictures have been enough to change my life, to make me an activist or even to encourage me to pass them on, to open the eyes of someone else in the hope that they, too, will try even a little to change their world and that of their fellow humans.

To truly see a situation as it, to realize that the starving child in the picture is not a documentary but a life in danger, is the basis for change. And this change will not be easy—if I have learned one thing from studying political science and development, it is how unbelievably complex and interconnected the many issues of development are. Sending 25 cents a day to an adopt-a-child program may make some difference, but this will not be enough to tackle all of the health, sanitation, education, and other problems of a village, much less a country or a continent. Adding up the quarters-a-day, combining all of the “little things” can make a difference, and if through my pictures and stories I can change someone’s worldview even a little it has been worthwhile. I don’t pretend to be able to change the world, but I intend to use my optimism and the ‘options’ and ‘choices’ I have to do the best I can—if I can’t cure cancer or win the fight against poverty, the least I can do is combat apathy.