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Even though some still ask how you are, sometimes you get the vibe its still indifferent. Why are people indifferent towards other peoples lives and well being? any explanations?
It would be too emotionally draining to really care about the lives of every person you meet.
Indeed, Mightyqueen. OP, you didn't specify whether your observations apply to casual acquaintances, co-workers, family members, or all of the above and more.
I truly care about the well-being of my sister and my nieces, my cousins and their children, and certain other people with whom I have more than a casual friendship. But that means I greet many others in the course of an average week where your description in the original post would apply to me.
So let me turn the question around: How could it be otherwise?
People can pretend they care until it requires them to give their time or open their wallets. As long as there are people who feel they don't have enough and desire to dominate others and not live equitably there will be people who give lip service to caring and that includes me. We all suffer from the human condition on one level or another.
The true human condition, from the very beginning of our time, has been for each of us to depend on and to support, every other one of our community. If we had not developed the ability and the need for that inter-dependence, we would not have survived, in a harsh world filled with predators, scarce resources and natural disasters.
There were once only a dozen or two in a tribe and later, perhaps fifty or a hundred. Now, there are more than seven billion of us, but we are still the same humans in every basic way. If we turn away from this way of living with each other, our humanity is diminished and that will lead to our downfall.
I can't imagine how we can be any other way and yet think we could survive and prosper. There have been several times in my life that complete strangers came along in a time of my need and saved my bacon. They had nothing to gain for themselves, except for my gratitude, friendship and possible help from me, when they needed it. There's also "paying it forward", where you help some other person and maybe they will continue the chain. I consider it as a gift to me, to have the opportunity to help someone who really needs it.
Things you do to help people don't have to be large or time-consuming. If a neighbor's trashcan blows over after they leave for work, you could lift it up, so the truck will be able to empty it. If there's broken glass on the street, you could sweep it up, so tires won't be cut by it. There's hundreds of little things that everyone could do for each other, if they would just pay attention and fill the need when it appears.
A wise philosopher once said, "If you see that something isn't right and you have the ability to make it right, then you have an absolute obligation to do so". How wonderful a life we can have, when everyone follows that guideline. No matter who we are, there is something we can all do to help others and show our care for them. If you show it for them, most of them will show it for you.
The true human condition, from the very beginning of our time, has been for each of us to depend on and to support, every other one of our community. If we had not developed the ability and the need for that inter-dependence, we would not have survived, in a harsh world filled with predators, scarce resources and natural disasters.
There were once only a dozen or two in a tribe and later, perhaps fifty or a hundred. Now, there are more than seven billion of us, but we are still the same humans in every basic way. If we turn away from this way of living with each other, our humanity is diminished and that will lead to our downfall.
I can't imagine how we can be any other way and yet think we could survive and prosper. There have been several times in my life that complete strangers came along in a time of my need and saved my bacon. They had nothing to gain for themselves, except for my gratitude, friendship and possible help from me, when they needed it. There's also "paying it forward", where you help some other person and maybe they will continue the chain. I consider it as a gift to me, to have the opportunity to help someone who really needs it.
Things you do to help people don't have to be large or time-consuming. If a neighbor's trashcan blows over after they leave for work, you could lift it up, so the truck will be able to empty it. If there's broken glass on the street, you could sweep it up, so tires won't be cut by it. There's hundreds of little things that everyone could do for each other, if they would just pay attention and fill the need when it appears.
A wise philosopher once said, "If you see that something isn't right and you have the ability to make it right, then you have an absolute obligation to do so". How wonderful a life we can have, when everyone follows that guideline. No matter who we are, there is something we can all do to help others and show our care for them. If you show it for them, most of them will show it for you.
The rich 1% don't believe this though. They believe in dominance, greed and inequity. It's the best feeling in the world to simply give. I had 8 complete strangers show up to help me salvage after a tornado I was in last year. That spirit is now burned in me forever. Really a great show of humanity at its finest.
The rich 1% don't believe this though. They believe in dominance, greed and inequity.
Can you back that up??
Last time I checked the wealthier Americans still gave more in absolute terms, increasing their donations between 2006 and 2012 by $4.6 billion, adjusted for inflation, to $77.5 billion. In that period, the collective wealth of Americans on The Forbes 400 soared by $1.04 trillion.
Hmmmm sounds like a lot of money to me.
However it's true that wealthy Americans are giving less than in the past due to the downturn but the overall percentage far exceeds that of the middle and lower income class.
I think many people are indifferent to others, but when they experience the same pitfalls in their life, all of a sudden they want empathy. But they've never given it to anyone else, so there is some irony there.
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