Our Apathetic Affliction

Humans are flippant.

I understand this fully for the first time as I hear my friend say, “Wow. Can you believe this? There’s a news article about the Ukraine crisis and then right below it is ‘5 Celebrities With the Best Style Right Now.’ That’s just sad.” And then she pulls down the car visor mirror, pulls out her lip gloss, applies a layer, and turns up the song on the radio to sing along with. The irony is lost on her, but I am now uncomfortably aware of the fact that wars and lip gloss exist during the same time. There’s not really a way to accept that when I am safely in America as people across the world die in a war they did not ask for.

Humans are flippant.

On a small scale, I’ve known for a while. I had an inkling when I observed how news stations are on all the time in public spaces, yet they never seem to garner more attention than an occasional pause and stare as someone waits on their friend to use the restroom. Our collective casualty toward our world’s issues seems more apparent than ever as I view Instagram stories that are a mix of vacations and heartbreaking pleas for humanity to change.

*Tap*

A photo of a shimmering pool

*Tap*

300 Ukrainian civilians die in Russia’s latest airstrike

*Tap*

A sunset in Florida

*Tap*

Here’s what you need to know about the Reproductive Health Equity Act

Humans are flippant.

But somewhere in the montage of Disneyland trips and abortion laws, I realize that these contrasting pieces of life are an act of self-preservation. Humanity’s collective tendency toward casualty provides protection from losing ourselves amongst the chaotic dark that is so overwhelmingly present in this world. We are able to look at the worst things happening in the world and choose to say, “This will not define my life.”