Apathy is an absence of hope

Only two topics, only two areas of study, have held my attention. It gets under my skin when around me and I long for more. Long to do something with it. Writing has. Politics has. My first trip to Washington DC had/has me longing to go back. Not to visit, but to be involved.

Yesterday someone asked me if I was a "big picture or little details" person, I answered honestly,"Both." I see all angles. Especially when it has nothing to do with me personally.This can make getting an answer out of me difficult, but you can guess I've looked at it from all sides. I'm a realist as well when looking at things. NOTHING is perfect. Especially when 'man' is involved. Man is fallible. (This will be brought up again this week. woot!) No one person can change a political system. No one person can create stability. No one can do that alone. But many can. Many people can. This is why parties try to get the majority after all. One rain drop can't drown you, but many can. One person's voice can be silenced, but many can't. You've heard these things before, but many choose to ignore it when it comes to politics.

Now, the loudest people aren't always right. Some people are stupid. Some people are misguided. Some people are selfish. Some people have the belief that their thoughts are the correct ones, and everyone else is a fool. Some people don't care. This doesn't change the fact, that the more people involved, the better the system can be.

I don't think that there is ever just a 'right answer' to what our governments (I say plural, because it goes for all levels) need to do. Or who can do it. We are all individuals. We all have our own opinions. It is naivety on a person's part to think that being of the same party means that everyone of that party believes the same thing. It is naivety to think that any person running for an office is perfect and will always make the correct decision. Its madness to think that anyone could have all the answers. Its madness to expect everyone to know every flaw of anyone running for office. They are people right? They are going to have them. I hold this belief for both (or all) party's members.

This doesn't mean everything is bunk in the system though. I don't think getting more people involved in the process is bad. With more people, more knowledge and more information and more ideas are bound to come. No, everyone won't know everything that is going on. Some people may really only care about one or two things in the government. Discounting their opinions because they don't see the whole picture isn't helping anyone. At least they are making an effort to try and make a better world, if even it is only their vision of a better world.

Playing the 'it doesn't matter' card doesn't work with me either. My sister uses is sometimes and I just don't get that angle. Could you imagine what it would be like if everyone that could vote did? (Take a look some time at the voting rates of other countries, for a country so big on democracy, we are a bit sad.) Maybe if more people showed the initiative to go to a polling center once a year (or once every 2 or 4) than ideas such as getting actual public opinion on policies could take place. Why would they ask the public for their 'official' opinion on things if barely half of the population takes the time to go answer? (Phone and marketing polls are strongly misleading. Depending on how someone phrases a question, or who you ask, can make a poll change over 40%!)

I'm not one to say, if you didn't vote you can't complain. (It may annoy a part of me however.) Of course you can, but what are you doing to make a difference. Complaining only works if you do something about it. If that means volunteering to help people or donating money to a school or taking your time out to help your community, DO IT. Don't judge the people trying to make do with the system we have. They are trying. It allows for people to have opinions. It allows for hope. Some people have hope. Hope that with each election at least one positive thing will come out of it. Some idea will appear with the new elected officials. Apathy does not allow for hope of this.

All I've hoped for is for people to know what is going on and be involved. There is no way to know everything, but in what field does everyone know everything? This is why there are doctors that specialize. Why people publish new findings and ideas in fields. A few years ago I thought I would dedicate one day a week to teaching some basic civics ideas though a blog post. I may start that again. We can never know every bill going out there (this is why elected officials have staffs to help them). We can never know every thought and true motive a politician might have (you don't know that about anyone). The right choices won't always be made (man is fallible). Politicians will make mistakes or do things for personal gain (which is why we can vote them out of office). We can learn about how it all really works. We can see the basic frame work that was laid down and why. We can learn why certain things are done the way they are. From that we can make better decisions. From that, we can be better involved. With that, we can lose this apathy that nothing will ever work or matter, and maybe hope that something will.