Article November 2, 1998 Issue

Why should I care?

A way to end apathy

By Curtis J. Wahlberg

I'm part of what has been called the "Why should I care?" generation, or Generation X. I know why people have given us this label. I've said it, my brothers have said it, and so have my friends—"Whatever ... I don't know ... Forget it." But this problem doesn't belong to just one generation. Apathy is something we all face, and we all can fight it.

You could describe my college days as a cycle of weeks of hard work suddenly followed by a couple of days of apathy and indifference. Without warning, I would wake up one morning or get home from school and find myself unwilling to move from the couch. Previously important schoolwork now felt inconsequential. I just didn't care, and I wondered, Where did these feelings come from, and why can't I make myself care about my work?

Eventually, I discovered that these moments of apathy came from thinking something like this: "You may have been purposeful for the last couple of weeks, but let's not forget that you're an ordinary mortal, bound to end up sad, sick, in pain, and eventually dead." Now, this is not how I naturally thought about myself, but some unconnected experience, like seeing an accident or hearing of a death, or just hanging out with others who thought this way, would trigger these thoughts.

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