Looking the other way has become an epidemic. People don’t always necessarily intend to not care or have cruel intentions when they tune out others in need. More often than not the case is that people just don’t know what to do, how to help and they turn off the sound, change the channel rather than pay attention and do anything at all to figure out a resolution. Many people would rather be able to solve a problem than do nothing at all. When faced with a challenge and no ideas for how to figure out what to do come to mind, most people back down and disengage instead of facing the challenge if it’s not specifically theirs to handle.

The old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind” rings true in this case. Once someone has passed over anyone with a problem that is not their own to solve, they typically will dismiss it from their mind with very little reason for it to resurface again. It’s truly not their problem and the one suffering is on their own, like a being in need of rescue floating further and further out to sea without a paddle and perhaps even without a life raft. The truth is that most people don’t need someone to solve their problems. They need someone to listen, to show support, to care, to be genuine and to do their best to understand or admit that they don’t understand but can see that whatever the issue is that it affects the person tremendously.

There have been so many trends in cruelty towards fellow human beings which I have been seeing throughout society and which have seemed so much more prevalent over the past few years. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of my own personal circumstances and where I am in my own journey of self, whether I’ve stumbled into a bizarre other world, whether people have decayed and allowed themselves to be angrier, harsher, more judgmental, crueler, and as a result uglier or if there’s some other explanation for all of the indecent behavior I see all around me more regularly than there should ever be an excuse for. And what’s even sadder is that people seem to have no shame or qualms about it either and quite the opposite take pleasure in their lack of humanity. I am completely befuddled. It takes no imagination, no strength, no courage, no determination, no willpower or any redeeming trait at all to be a cesspool of a human being. You don’t stand out nor do you shrink into the background. You are complete mediocrity.

So many people are afraid to think for themselves and are afraid to be themselves. So many people get offended because they don’t even understand what has been said and their first response is to assume the worst, be offended, hurt and then angry if something included one of their hot buttons and didn’t include a fuzzy warm package or reassurance. If you aren’t going to be yourself, you may as well be a zombie.

In public we preach tolerance, acceptance, equality and understanding. Yet a large number of our laws are created out of a response to anger and fear while many more are a direct result of greed in power. People are more likely to jump to one another’s aid in a zombie apocalypse than in supporting somebody who has been mulled over by a (self)righteous movement lest they be persecuted themselves. I guess that stands to reason that people have emptied their minds and personalities to be zombified lemmings. I can only hope that there is some way in which people are able to recover their brains and hence their hearts and their compassion so perhaps the salvation of the planet will be possible. You won’t see me holding my breath, but you also won’t see me acting like an uncompassionate wretch ever.

Maybe, just maybe, we will see a return of the 70’s era of “Make Love Not War” as marijuana receives more widespread acceptance. And I feel that we should do something else like Hands Across America and have it end with a hug to each person with whom ones hands are being held to help combat depression, homelessness, and all things which might be summed up as the difficulties we face in life. (And yes, sometimes I start rambling like an old shack in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains! Love it or leave it, but it does exist.)