It's hard to believe this is the last blog post I will ever have to write in my high school career. It seems like just a couple months ago I was starting school as a reluctant and terrified freshman, and now here I am, a senior, a legal adult, and about to graduate in 17 days. My last year of high school has been marked with some of the most exciting and fulfilling moments of my life so far, but it also brought some of the greatest sadness I have ever known. After being rejected from nearly every school I applied to and having to settle for a school that went against everything I had said I’d wanted, I slipped into a state of being unlike any I’d experienced before. In order to stop myself from dealing with the incredibly intense amount of self doubt and sadness I was feeling, I simply shut off. I stopped caring about things, and what had made me happy before began to only feel like nuisances. Since then I have managed to come out this state, but the most frightening part of the experience was that my overwhelming feeling during it was not sadness but rather apathy. Instead of being actively upset, I just stopped feeling anything.
So, what does this have to do with my blog? Well, as it is probably quite clear, I have devoted the last nine or so months to discussing social movements and the points at which change can occur. It has taken me 18 years to realize that change, of any kind, will be good in the end, and I truly believe that all things happen for a reason. Or more so, I believe there is something to be learned from from everything that happens in life. But that learning process takes time and effort, and if someone has fallen to the point of pure indifference, there can be nothing they’ll take away and no possibility of alteration. After experiencing what I did, it has become clear to me that apathy is the enemy of movement. Anger and sadness are driving forces, they cause people to do things, even if they are negative. But apathy? No, apathy doesn’t make anyone do anything.
In order for the world to continue progressing we need people who are willing to feel something. If no one cares then nothing will get done, and society will be stuck in a never ending loop of intolerance. I urge everyone to fight whatever makes them feel apathetic, indifferent, or lethargic and to raises their voices against the injustices of the world. The people and communities I have written about in this blog, from trans youth, to pregnant women, needs people to speak for them and carry on in their battle. Even if you’re fighting against them, at least you’re fighting for something, and no one can fault you for the effort it takes to have an opinion.
Finally, I leave everyone who happens upon this blog with some of the things I have always found inspiring and exciting. Perhaps they will be enough to make someone stand up, and stand firm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_yBGQqg7kM
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