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This morning, as I was leaving home for work, I noticed that the hallways, lifts and reception area were covered in Christmas tree needles. Someone had obviously disposed of their holidays' decorations. It was as if whoever made the mess was expecting for someone else to take care of the clean-up. It's always someone else's job, isn't it? And the problem with this attitude and this way of looking at life is that it influences every other aspect of our lives. Why bother speaking out against injustices if that's the job of advocates? Why bother with the environment if that's the job of activists? Why bother with wearing a mask during the pandemic if someone else will wear theirs and protect me? In times when inactions make our problems worse faster than our actions can fix them, why do we choose apathy?
When I was growing up, whenever my father saw that I didn't feel like doing a task he would tell me: "combat laziness with action". With these four words, my father turned my brother and me into high performing people. And this, combined with a sense of consideration towards others, would have made me immediately clean up after myself if I had been the one bringing my decorations down this morning.
What could be the root of this apathy? Apathy is a feeling of having no feelings towards something. It sounds contradictory, but it is the emotion that lacks all emotion. It can be defined as a behaviour that shows no interest in something important, but it is also a lack of energy for everyday things. Being indifferent to everything that is going on around you can be linked to social determinants or in young people it can be part of the normal transition from adolescence to adulthood. In other cases, it can also be an early sign of a serious condition like dementia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, abuse of painkillers and cannabis, or a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
However, apathy can also be a symptom of an overload of information. When we are constantly told that there are so many things wrong in the world and that it is our duty to act on them our compassion can go numb. This can leave us in a state of empathy paralysis called compassion fatigue. This collective feeling of burnout and of lack of empathy has become very common in the times we are living.
Can we start caring again? If you are experiencing apathy due to burnout or if you think it can be linked to a more serious condition, seek help. Talk to someone you trust or seek professional advice.
Could this be the reason why my neighbours didn't clean up after themselves? Perhaps is not apathy and they are just selfish. O maybe they are lazy. Whatever it is, it's the same behaviour that I see when it comes to the problems that the world is facing right now.
Sustainability sounds like a lot of work. Righting all the wrongs can sometimes feel like someone else's job. If you are indifferent to the problems that you see around you the UN has prepared the Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World. They propose some simple things that we can adopt into our routines that, if we all do it, will make a big difference.
Cleaning up the mess we make is not someone else's job. It's our job. If humanity has made of this planet a mess, then humanity must clean up after itself. Maybe I personally didn't run a sweatshop, or enslaved anyone, or produced the plastic that floats in the ocean. But if I don't take action I become an accomplice. I turn into an accessory of all the crimes committed against nature and against humanity. In this case, the bystander is just as guilty as the perpetrator.
Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruszka.
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