BORDERS OF APATHY: Reflections on Indifference and Humanity

	Encountering a few discarded cans
	it is easy to take them to a recycling stand.
	Yet confronting vast amounts of waste
	most people shrug their shoulders and think
	"The problem 's too great."

	Small amounts of litter
	take little effort to collect
	yet when horizons are filled with trash
	most of us wonder
	"Can't somebody else clean this mess?"

	Coming across a few folks in need
	charity seems easy.
	However, witnessing large-scale poverty
	how tempting it is to turn numb
	& ignore the suffering!

	Though many of the world's problems
	seem almost too big to face
	the boundaries of our apathy
	reveal precisely
	how our conscience is placed.

Andrei:     (coughing) At one time I was idealistic, but recently as sense of 
            pessimism has grown.

Ellesha:    Then discover parts of you that are still young. Most people have 
            at least some parts that are uncorrupted by apathy or cynicism.

Andrei:     (holding back a sneer) Iz zhat possible? I've seen so much 
            deception 'n crap. Zhe entire world seemz like a flimsy facade.

Philyra:    C'mon Andrei! A certain amount of crap is inevitable. Don't be 
            so damn fastidious!

Ellesha:    Philyra is right. Our basic choice is to be alive or dead - as 
            long as yer clinging to some real or imagined past, you're dead . . .

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from _Let the waters be my witness: Messages about our watery world_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY: Some thoughts about ennui, entropy, social isolation and stagnation.
KEYWORDS: edges of indifference, idealism and pessimism, social activism, human caring

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun: 1996 in Shizuoka, Japan / Finished: 2020 in Yokohama, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

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TRANSLATIONS

DEUTSCH   https://www.tnewfields.info/de/grenzen.htm
ESPAÑOL   https://www.tnewfields.info/es/bordes.htm
FRANÇAIS  https://www.tnewfields.info/fr/bords.htm
NIHONGO   https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/mukan.htm
ZHŌNGWÉN  https://www.tnewfields.info/zh/lengmo.htm