The Disease of Apathy

Express outrage, offer prayers, do nothing, repeat, express outrage, offer prayers, do nothing, repeat, express outrage, offers prayers, do nothing, repeat! Sound familiar?

This is our pattern after every mass shooting. We hear about a horrific shooting where so many men, woman, children (fill in the blank) are killed by a, depending on if the person is white, black, or Muslim, terrorist, thug, or mentally unstable individual. We are shocked. The talking heads on TV all ask how could this happen. Our political and religious leaders all offer their prayers and thoughts. For a few days we talk about how we have to do something so this does not keep happening. After a few days, things get back to normal and nothing changes except the headlines. We bury our heads in the sand and keep electing the same people over and over who refuse to do anything.

It is predictable what political leaders will say after an event like the horrific shooting in Los Vegas. Those on the right will talk about the need for mental health reform. Speaker Paul Ryan was right on cue after Las Vegas saying “‘Critical Ingredient’ to Address Gun Shootings Is Mental Health Reform.” In a 2015 interview on CBS, Paul Ryan said “I don’t want to keep saying the same thing over and over, but one of the things we’ve noticed: There are mental health issues here.” I can back and show quotes from Speaker Ryan and others from every major mass shooting over the last 25 years and they are all the same. After the Sandy Hook shooting, Ryan called for a moment of silence on the floor of the house, talked about the need to reform the mental health system, criticized the Democrats for politicizing the issue and did nothing.

I am beginning to think Ryan is right; the issue is a mental health issue. Albert Einstein is credited with saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Perhaps we should not be looking at the mental health of those committing these horrific acts, but those who sit back and do the same thing over and over expecting this time the results will be different. Maybe Einstein is right. We keep reacting the same way, looking for the same solutions, proposing the same legislation, and hoping we get different results. It is not just the issue of guns, it is a multitude of issues ranging from racism, climate degradation, immigration, human trafficking, Islamophobia, abortion and on and on. It is not just folks who would be considered to be ‘right leaning’, it is those who are on the left as well. In her book: No is Not Enough, Naomi Klein asks the question: “how do they intersect? What root cause connects them? How can these issues be tackled in tandem, at the same time?”

I have been engaged in the work of transformative social change for many years. I believe the greatest obstacle to social change in not a lack of concern, we want to help the poor and marginalized. But we have been enticed into a perception of apathetic consumerism. We feel good about ourselves when we bring a bag of groceries to church for a food pantry somewhere or write a check out to provide aid when there is a tsunami in the Philippines, or a hurricane in Puerto Rico or Houston. As long as it does not involve a personal encounter with the homeless or poor. I often give talks on social change, at the end of my talk someone always comes up and tells me how much they admire me for the work that I do. My response is don’t admire me join me. These are good people, well meaning folks who understand that things are not right and would help except they have to pick up the kids at little league, dance class, music lessons, mow the lawn, are too tired because they work more hours to buy the latest gadget and myriad of other rationalizations. Meanwhile gun violence and mass shootings continue, children are being kidnapped, trafficked, and sold into slavery so we can have access to cheap products that we don’t need, women are trafficked and sold into sex trade and the climate is being destroyed.

There is the possibility that the mental health disease that afflicts all of us is apathy. In her book, Dr. Elisabeth Vasko, Beyond Apathy: A Theology for Bystanders argues that we are complacent when we are willing to tolerate violence against the poor and the marginalized. She describes it as“bystander participation in patterns of violence.” It is not necessarily just the overt forms of violence, such as mass murders, that have become commonplace. We all express horror and outrage when we hear of another mass shooting. Dr. Vasko describes the more covert forms of violence such as bullying, sexism, hidden racism and sexual violence. As she says: “We live in a society that is all too willing to tolerate violence. Violence, a communal problem, impacts the flourishing of all involved: victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. Violence desecrates the image of God as it dehumanizes and fractures communion among all God’s people.”

How do we counter the disease, the sin of apathy? Catalyzing mass public demand for change requires first laying a moral foundation. As people of faith we should have the courage to speak with a prophetic voice and lay bare our countries political  leaders, religious leaders and corporate CEOs who understand this mortal threat, yet consistently enact policies and practices that worsen it or do nothing at all. Dr. Vasko states, “To be a Christian is to take sides with those who are marginalized, dehumanized and subject to violence. Whether we like it or not neutrality isn’t an option. In the face of violent activity, to hide behind the mirror of ignorance is to take sides with the powers that be.” In her book Making All Things New, Sr. Ilia Delio, a Franciscan theologian says: “Eucharist means being an active participant in the Cosmic body of Christ, a body evolving unto fullness, the Cosmic person, through the rise of consciousness and unity in Love… The Gospel life is not a social agency of good works but a life of mindful presence. ”

So, the question is do we keep reacting the same way? Do we propose the same solutions?  Pope Francis says in Paragraph 202 of Laudato Si: “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.” 20th Century visionary Buckminster Fuller stated: “In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.” Isn’t it time to break out of the endless loop of “Express outrage, offer prayers, do nothing, repeat”? The message of Jesus is a message of love and peace, not fear, hatred and war. The marginalized, the poor, the refugees, all of us are the Body of Christ. Will we welcome the Body or reject the Christ. If we truly believe the message of Jesus than everything must change.