What can be done about the apathy that people feel towards world issues?

People really need to get involved in their communities and the communities of others so that they can develop empathy in the place of apathy. Really personal experience or caring about someone who has personal experience is the quickest and easiest way to get rid of this apathy that you are talking about. But people have little motivation to “get involved”. I would love to see some type of incentive program that encouraged people to be more active in their communities.

Although you said some people feel like they can’t do anything, around here the case seems to be they aren’t aware of those less fortunate. More ignorance than apathy, I mean. At least in some people. I’ve found that by participating in organizations like Habitat for Humanity and working to spread awareness, the apathy disappears.

So I guess I want to say that spreading awareness is the first step. There will always be those who simply don’t care, though.

@nxknxk I agree. I’m afraid though even being aware of the issues doesn’t spark the need to do anything. This I will never understand.

let them walk a mile in their shoes. videos -a picture is worth a thousand words?

@faye I actually head the Global Issues group at my school and I recently ran a food drive. The cans collected were mostly from teachers. I put announcements out, I made posters and I even made a video for the whole school to see. People are just not interested.

@naivete Well what do you think would happen if those people had to live off of the income of someone below the poverty line? I betcha next time a canned food drive comes around they donate.

@RedPowerLady I bet they would too. The reality is however, that I can not make them live below the poverty line. I also cant force my realizations of the world on them either.
It makes me sad that they haven’t realized it on their own.

I think people(adults) are more stressed and overwhelmed than ever and when people feel that way they pull back and preserve what little they perceive they have to give. People as you put it (students) should realize they have more time and resources to give than they realize.
But, as an adult I know I am personally being swamped with an enormous amount of requests for support from every charitable organization under the sun and I just don’t have it right now.

@naivete You certainly can’t make them live below the poverty line. But perhaps if they donated time at a homeless shelter it would have the same affect. That is one reason why I suggest providing incentives for people who get involved in their communities. I think that is something that we can do, encourage others to get involved.

@SeventhSense Times are tough right now but I (and so many other organizations out there) am trying to focus on building an awareness in the younger generation so that when the time comes to give when we’re older, we don’t just turn our backs.

I don’t know and I don’t care.~

@naivete

And interesting thing we do on campus once every year is get together in front of the library to make houses or structures out of cardboard boxes, then sleep in them overnight. It costs like $5 to participate, it’s tons of fun, and there’s usually hot chocolate and stuff.

The up-side is that all the money made from the event (and a lot of people participate, so a lot of money’s made) goes to helping homeless shelters and improving the quality of project housing, while students get to experience sleeping in the (somewhat) cold. The down-side is that the event is kind of… burlesque, and seems almost to mock homeless people (e.g., hot chocolate).

How about establishing penpalships?

@Psychedelic_Zebra I knew someone was going to say that.

@nxknxk I might be able to organize something like that once I actually get to college. Right now the principal at my high school isnt really for the idea of students sleeping outside and I cant find a teacher sponser…

@mattbrowne I like that idea. I have a few penpals from around the world.