Indifference and Fear

Posted on | October 20, 2008 | 2 Comments

Twin obstacles to human progressOver these past few months, it has become clear to most that change is upon us, whether we like it or not. We can manage it, or it can manage us. Psychologists say that change is unique in human experiences in its ability to instill in human beings two opposing emotions – fear and exploration. If we chose fear, we retrench and attempt to hold on to the familiar, even if it has clearly failed. In so doing, we fall further behind. Leaders who fan fear, can hold a populace in check for a time, and yet time marches on. And with time, failed leaders fail.

The other choice when faced with change is exploration, new visions for a different future. This approach has risks as well – that the solution will not fix the problem, or come too early to supplant present day fears, or be under-powered and therefore not sufficient to "get ahead of change." Still, when faced with change, a willingness to explore, to take a risk, to try to make things better — not just for yourself — but for others as well, avoids the depressive and demoralizing entrapment of the failed status quo.

Worse than fear though, is indifference. Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, at the White House Millennium Lecture in 1999, had this to say about human indifference:

"We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and judged severely, in both moral and metaphysical terms. These failures have cast a dark shadow over humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations — Gandhi, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Sadat, Rabin — bloodbaths in Cambodia and Nigeria, India and Pakistan, Ireland and Rwanda, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Sarajevo and Kosovo; the inhumanity in the gulag and the tragedy of Hiroshima. And, on a different level, of course, Auschwitz and Treblinka. So much violence, so much indifference.

“What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.

“What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one’s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?

“Of course, indifference can be tempting — more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbors are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction."

Wiesel goes on to say, "In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

"Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

"Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. And this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century’s wide-ranging experiments in good and evil."

What will our legacy be – more "me,’ or more "we"? Fear has held us in check for the first eight years of this century. And we’ve had much to be fearful about, I’ll grant you that. But what we’ve learned is that fear, especially when combined with indifference, creates enormous vulnerability for all of us. We now sink or swim together. And there is always hope. On that evening in 1999, Elie Wiesel concluded his remarks at the White House by recalling his boyhood and survival of the Holocaust with these words, "And so, once again, I think of the young Jewish boy from the Carpathian Mountains. He has accompanied the old man I have become throughout these years of quest and struggle. And together we walk towards the new millennium, carried by profound fear and extraordinary hope."

It is time for us to elect a new President. And none of us can afford to sit on the sideline. It is time for us to harness our fear and work together to make a difference in education, health, energy, finance and infrastructure. There is much to be done, but in relying on each other, good reason to hope.

As always, I’m interested in your opinions on this topic. After you watch this week’s video or read this blog post, please leave a comment letting me know how you feel.