The Student News Site of Bellevue West Senior High School

The Thunderbeat

The Student News Site of Bellevue West Senior High School

The Thunderbeat

The Student News Site of Bellevue West Senior High School

The Thunderbeat

Ambition not apathy: why teens should care

Emily-Brandon-

Apathy is the lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Simply put, apathy is not caring. Up until eighth grade, I never had a problem with people not caring. Everything in life was still fairly new; we were concerned with each other and what was happening. I don’t know where that changed, but I wish it hadn’t.

As a student, I see apathy all around me. It’s in my peers, my teachers, the social media I look at daily, the tv shows I watch and magazines I read. It’s popular to be apathetic. It’s “cool” to be sad and uncaring, and I don’t understand.

Nothing will ever happen in the world if people don’t care. Ever since we were little we were taught that it takes effort and attention to change or accomplish anything. Even Dr. Seuss, an author we’re all familiar with, wrote a story all about how important caring is aimed at children. The Lorax’s most famous line is “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.”

So if we know caring is important, why is our generation so impressed with the idea of apathy? I mean I get it. We want to be cool. We want people to think that we’re so unphased by everything around us. Teenagers especially have a tendency to strive for a life where nothing bothers them. However, it’s just impossible to actually feel that way, and acting like we do is ridiculous.

The world is bad enough without uncaring, apathetic attitudes. No one wants to know how much someone “so totally doesn’t care” about anything. As students, we shouldn’t see apathy as an alluring trait. It’s boring, and if you’re wearing it like it’s a fashion trend, you need to rethink who you want to be.

Go care about things. Go help people, animals, plants, anything that needs it, give your enthusiasm out to the world and accept that, as a human, you’re going to have feelings. Stop hiding them and trying to be cool. What’s really cool is accomplishing things, living a life worth talking about. You’re not going to do that with an apathetic attitude.

Emily Brandon
Entertainment Editor
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