Get over apathy, start making change

If children are the future, we are in a world of trouble. These days more and more young people have a self-centered attitude, and only show concern for problems that directly affect them. It is either that or some interest or feeling is shown about an issue when a reality slap hits them directly in the face. There should be some concern of the fast-paced growth of the apathy that people have for issues dealing with the country, as well as the University. Proof of the apathy can be seen through the events of the past year.
When the 2008-2009 school year commenced in September, the student body was fired up about the presidential election. The whole country was aware change was needed and argued about which candidate would be best to lead our country out of its slump. The importance of voting and caring about the election was shared by youth across the country, leading to the registration of a large amount of young voters and one of the highest voter turnouts in years. Activism and creating positive changes was trendy for once, and you were not in the majority if you knew nothing of the election. Many Americans watched on election night to see which candidate won, and when President Barack Obama made his acceptance speech, people across the country, including right here in New Brunswick, were out in the streets shouting and celebrating. Once the election was over, everything went downhill.
People just stopped caring. The hype of change was gone, and people expected things to get better from the get-go and not by doing anything to fix issues themselves. Once they got their commander-in-chief, the American people expected Obama to just take care of everything without giving any input of their own. Issues are still happening and progressing, getting worse and better, but no one realizes that the world does not revolve around them. As Obama’s first 100 days comes to an end and people are going to offer their criticisms, it is only fair to remember that it is hard to keep up momentum and enthusiasm for change when the country is not behind you with the same attitude, the way it was during the election.
This apathetic attitude was reflected in the University’s student body. Unless an event involves booze and free stuff, few care about what is going on, but people are quick to complain about the University. Transportation is a favorite topic of students campus-wide to offer their two cents about. Because massive changes in the bus routes and schedules are upon us, the Department of Transportation held a forum to explain the changes, answer any questions and listen to student comments. But — shocker — all of 15 people were in attendance. Students were offered a chance to have their voices heard, and it was not taken advantage of.
Another example of the apathy that plagues the University is the student government. Elections were held for the new representatives of the student body, and hardly anyone ran. Students had the ability to go to the Rutgers University Student Assembly Web site and vote for those individuals that are running for these positions. There were only three presidential positions contested — the Busch Campus Council, SEBS/Cook Council and Douglass Governing Council — which would led many interested voters to become dishearten and possibly uninterested because it looked as if that is the attitude of the student government. The fight to change the RUSA constitution is another example of how pathetic apathy can make a group of people look. The battle for the new RUSA constitution was being argued over for months to try to change the way the student government is run and the way elections are held. The people who did care about changing the constitution fought to have it passed, but the vote was ultimately postponed for next year because it was time for elections. When the one thing most people could agree on — direct elections — had to be voted on, the two-thirds majority needed to pass the new constitution did not even show up to the meeting. Our own student government does not care enough to show up to a vote. That should be a clear representation of the problem that is sweeping the nation both locally and nationally.
This is not to say that everyone does not care about issues that affect the University, the country and the world. Dance Marathon, for the Embrace the Kids Foundation, was one of the most successful fundraisers this year. The University also has many successful blood drives, which collected a lot of blood for those in need. Advances were also made in making campuses a cleaner and greener place to be. All these positive actions are proof that when effort is put into something, we are capable for making a difference and spreading positive change.
The question that remains is: Why did the year start off with optimism and want to change, but end in the same old apathetic ‘I don’t care about anything else but me’ attitude? Maybe it is something that is at the core of people as human beings. It is disappointing to put your all into something and really care about an issue just to see it fail. But at the same time, if you never do anything, you’ll never know if there was a possibility of success. Not to be cliché, but wouldn’t you rather fail knowing you had tried to make a difference than never at all? People care enough to post meaningless comments about their daily activities on Facebook and Twitter, but maybe a break should be taken to use those technological tools in a may that speaks about issues that matter. The fact is there are going to be the same issues next year. Major budget cuts are going to affect everyone, the bus routes are changing and will still be annoying. We have so much potential to make a huge difference, and we should start at the university level and work our way up.