Apathy, the mindset and act of simply not caring. It’s not so much an act of spite but an act of obliviousness. In fact, according to one quote, the opposite of love is not hate because even when you hate someone, you still think about them, right? However, when you’re apathetic towards someone, you simply don’t know and don’t care about them at all. Now look, I don’t really mind if you don’t care about trivial things because, after all, they’re only “trivial” things. However, what aggravates me to no end is the way a lot of you seem to care more about the trivial things in our country rather than the more important issues we have to address.
From the brutal slaughter of the Lumads, the loss of our western islands to the People’s Republic of China and all the way to more powerful and devastating natural disasters that may come our way in 2016, all of these have to take a backseat to stuff like AlDub, Vice Ganda jokes and another (*sigh*) Manny Pacquiao match this year. Of course, if one were to ask me, there’s nothing really wrong with enjoying the latter three I mentioned but one has to wonder why they take precedence over the first three. It’s almost like thinking that a car’s paint is more important than the gas that actually fuels it. Oh well…
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Anyway, I’ve probably talked about apathy more times than I can care to remember. So no, this time, I’m not going to write an article about apathy because it seems I’ve already written all I could about the topic. However, that does not mean I’m not going to write about it. Instead, since some of you have taken to calling me a “prophet” (the irony of which still makes my sides hurt), I’m just going to tell you a parable, just like Jesus, Ezekiel and other big figures in the Bible. Besides, good storytelling isn’t just informative, it can also be entertaining…
***
Once, in a small town, there lived a family of seven people. A mother, a father, their three sons and two daughters. The mother and father of the family were very active in their community and always did what they could to help others. They were good people and the town came to respect them as model citizens.
But then, one day, something terrible came to the town. It seems that a vicious serial killer had found his way into the town and begun preying on its children. He would abduct children from their homes and take them to the nearby woods where he would brutally kill them in unbelievably gruesome ways.
When it seems that the town police weren’t enough to contain the threat, it was decided that a good number of the locals would be deputized so that they could help in the effort to finally arrest the vicious murderer. Among those to be chosen were the parents of the family of seven. The father had an outstanding record as a soldier and the mother was well-known as a huntress.
However, knowing that their children could be vulnerable in their absence, the parents did leave something behind to protect their children. They left behind firearms and a large dog to their eldest son, believing that he could protect his siblings if anything ever went wrong. What they didn’t know or wouldn’t accept was that their eldest son had plans of his own and that he was hoping to take advantage of his parents’ absence.
Then, when the parents left, the eldest son immediately went about selling the firearms and even the dog they left behind for personal gain. When he had gained enough money, he used it to buy himself useless things and even buy his eldest sister, who was on to him by the way, new gadgets to bribe her into being quiet. As it turned out, their parents would not be back for a few days as the trail of the killer wound through the woods and was extremely difficult to track. With that, the eldest son encouraged his younger brothers and sisters to simply have fun while their parents were gone. What they did not know was that the eldest son was selling off their food and belongings as well to further enrich himself.
And then, one night later, a phone call came to the house. While the five siblings were busy partying without their parents, the youngest son went and answered it. It was their parents and it seemed that they had bad news. The killer was apparently in the town again, searching for victims.
The youngest son, finally coming to his senses, decided to warn his siblings about the coming danger. Unfortunately, they were caught up with what they were doing. The eldest son was too distracted by the amount of money he was earning from selling his family’s prized possessions. The eldest daughter was too caught up in taking selfies of herself with her new gadgets to listen to her brother. The middling son seemed occupied with his new shoes and other accessories he was using to attract girls. Meanwhile, the youngest daughter was too engrossed watching her favorite teleserye on TV to pay attention to anything else.
Then, through the window, the youngest saw a dark figure entering through the gates of the house…
***
I’m going to leave my story there ladies and gentlemen. Actually, despite my cynicism, I like happy endings. I like stories ending with the good guys winning the day and the bad guys vanquished. I prefer tales where the heroes do everything they can so that their loved ones can be kept safe and happy. To be honest, I can only hope for the best for the five siblings mentioned in the story. I want them to live and win the day as well.
However, you know better than I do the kind of odds that are stacked against them. So no, I’m not going to add anything else to the parable I just wrote. If it has an ending, I’ll leave it up to you dear readers on how things should turn out.
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
Oh my…oh my…the Mr. Grimwalds’s parable is without a happy ending.
I am afraid…I am begining to believe Mr. Grimwald is a Prophet. Maybe, he will establish another religion like , Iglesia Ni Kristo. He can tell a good tale of parables.
The reason I left the story open-ended is because I myself believe that all my parables will amount to nothing if no one will do anything…
the only deus ex machina to come out of this cautionary fable would be if the parents came back in the nick of time to see the eldest son in a fight to the death with the killer, and they saved them both to be dealt with by an impartial tribunal…
Question, Why is it wrong to want nice things? This has been the standards of American and many strong countries. We want nice things so we work to get them. This is the true problem I see here in the Philippines. Everyone is happy just to live. More people should want a better lifestyle for themselves or at least their children. “reach for the stars, because if you fail at least your own top of the world” think about this famous quote and apply it to everyday life is what is needed here.
See, that’s another problem. There are so many parents (heck, my dad qualifies) who insist that seeking such nice things is pointless. Then, there are those who are convinced who think that reaching the stars is all about showbiz.
Since you say that, if I have kids (operative word here is “if”), I will convince them that good things are possible through common work like engineering, healthcare or legality…
I like your thinking Grimwald. The problem is this true story from my province. Most of the school teachers here have two jobs. I have asked about this. The answer I get from the teachers are these kids are not going to be doctors, engineers or anything but farmers and wives. This is actually what teachers and parents want from the children and what they teach them. I ask what if a child wants to be more. The answer is always the same. “You do not understand the Philippines and the only way for a person to do good is to become a OFW or marry someone overseas” Your thought process and mine are basically the same. I want everyone to start trying to dream of things and trying to make the dreams come true. First, someone has to wish to have more. That is the problem with most of the people I encounter. The need to dream and then learn to like the pride they get from earning something on their own.
If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime.
In response to that post, I will repost this old post I made:
The “Eh Sino Ka? Hero?” Mentality Is Keeping The Philippines Far Away From Progress!
if we truly valued education and what it can do to transform young lives, we would see teachers being paid more than managers and ceos and timeserving presidents and politicians. they can afford to do that in Finland, but maybe their politicians are simply more altruistic?
it’s so sad to see teachers – both in private and public schools – treated so shabbily.
The education system here performs and the kids are failed , because the people who actually care are the ones who care about the wrong things. Look at this https://www.ncsbn.org/NCLEX_Stats_2014.pdf Finland school system was used as example. The universities there work together and it is mandated by law. The Philippines has destroyed the good Universities and school by giving grades on certification exams. Guess what most major countries only give the grade of pass or fail. Example here https://www.ncsbn.org/Sample_CPR_RN.pdf This stupidity has filtered down to some grade schools. You will see advertisements everywhere for the schools that are failing to unite their country and students by sharing research and different learning techniques. These school administrators and the testing center administrators should all be lined up up and giving a gruesome slow death for diving the young brilliant talented minds of children. I know three famous universities in this country that is famous for kicking students out of the university that might make the school look bad due the certification exams. how is that for Apathy? Does the school system here care about the students or their precious bragging rights?