Apathy

Apathy (n) - absence or supression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

I see many things every day, that's okay, I get paid to experience the world in all it's glory. I've seen the glory of the birth of my son, I've worked a presidential inauguration in Washington D.C. I've watch people take their last breath of life. All this I expect in my line of work, in fact I expect it in life as well. One thing that troubles me is this growing sense of apathy around me. When I was growing up (sounding like my dad again) people worked for their money. People voted, people got involved in their community, in their church. People cared about who was in their neighborhood.

Yesterday while working the Folks and Roots music festival at Wells Park I saw a number of professional people enjoying a day off at the park with their families listening to music. That's great! What I also saw were groups of people who I could only describe as "mud people". Large groups of late teens to early twenties people who look like they haven't bathed this month, and I'm doubting that water touched them last month as well. Tangled snarled hair was the norm in these groups, backpacks and bedrolls to help them in their journey (wherever that may be). When the fest ended, the families left, why not they had children to get to bed, homes to return to. Who was left in the fields? You guessed it the mud people. Advising them that the park was closed elicited not a motion from them, it was time for a love in! They just experience the majesty of some unknown texas band singing to them for an hour playing baselines from old Parliment tunes (Is stealing other bands tunes apathetic too?). After 15 or 20 minutes of standing back and allowing people to leave without upping the ante and using the "outside" voice I realized these people had every intention on staying all night doing whatever. Time for the "outside" voice to come out. Now in a much stronger voice and a firmer tone the advice to leave the park is now an order to leave the park. My coworkers and I were met with blank stares and "I'll get to it, man."

I'll get to it man? Who do they think they are talking to? I'm not their mamma expecting them to get to homework or cleaning their room, or showering. I'm an authorized agent of the state to enforce all laws and ordinances on the books. Let me tell you something about the police, some are complete a-holes, merciless and hard. Most just want to do a good job and go home to their families. Challenge these officers and you get the "book". No I'm not talking about a NYPD Blue style beat down in an interview room, I'm talking about going through the law book and finding every single statute available to hammer the offending person. Like I said I'm not these people's mother, if they are going to make me work late, they'll be staying longer too, just not in the park but in a cell.

It got me thinking though, what do these people do for a living? What are their drives in life, how do they want to leave their mark in the world? When I started on this job there were handfuls of these types of people, now they come in droves. Last nights fest looked like a hippie fest from San Fransisco circa 1974. I wonder what will these people be doing in ten years? How are they going to get jobs looking like a person who just doesn't care with an attitude of "I just don't care". A thing that worries me about the way things are going is the apothetical approach to the world, and this younger generation is increasingly going towards not caring about anything. Some will say what are we losing, these people are losers anyway. I would beg to differ. I saw people out their who if you looked past their apothetical, pot glazed eyes had intellegence, that was not being used. What I don't get is if you think the world is messed up, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Don't travel from park to park sharing joints with random strangers listening to music and getting dirtier by the minute, go do something to change it.

One standard I hold myself to is if you didn't vote you can't complain because you willingly took yourself out of the process. The same is true in life, if you willingly check out you have no right to say anything about how the world is going.

My suggestions to the younger generations, for better or worse:
Be clean in appearance, showing up to a job interview with your pants on the floor and an unwashed shirt on will not get you that job.
Disturbing body art is bad, first impressions are everything, if you walk around with a spike through your nose, a nail through your lip, have twenty tattoos up and down your body, you look to others as a person who doesn't respect their body, that leaves an impression. A couple of tattoos that are artistically done might be okay, but look at some high school basket ball games and you'll see 17 year old boys with what looks like prison ink up and down their bodies.
Respect others, giving an attitude that you are above everyone else, and that they are bothering you is going to put people off - alot!
Get involved! If you don't like something I can guarantee you there is a group of like minded people to get involved with that want to change things, also just as important, learn the other sides argument like it is your own opinion, and (this is hard) respect it. The only way to truly beat something is to understand it and respect it. To just deny something won't make it go away.

And for the love of God, take a shower every day!