Click on the image above to enlarge!
As far back as the 1800's, scientists conducted experiments on frogs. They placed them in a pan of cool water. When the water was heated too quickly the frogs attempted to escape. When the water heating was reduced to around 0.2°C per minute, the frog was said to remain until dead. While these finding are wildly contested by modern day scientists, the idea of something or someone becoming accustomed to gradual changes in their environment rings true. It's how bad and good habits alike are formed. It's how we become conditioned to the world around us. If we see something shocking enough, it's no ceases to be shocking.
In America, apathy and fear are the waters in which we currently boil. I see it on Facebook. I see it on the news. I see it at my local grocery store. People everywhere are willing to cash in their freedom just as long as they can plan their next meal or Disney vacation. We are more concerned with a Facebook status than with voting. We'd rather drink ourselves into a stupor on the weekends than read up about what laws are being passed that may adversely affect us. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for having fun and just living life. I love to have fun. I just want to make sure that twenty years from now I can still have fun! One day soon, however, we may all wake up to a world that has been hand-crafted by our apathy and fear. We are such a distracted nation. We tell ourselves that it's acceptable that a tiny percentage of people in this country make up the rules for the rest. We are becoming convinced that terrorism is the perfect excuse to handcuff ourselves and throw away the keys.
I haven't decided whether apathy or fear is more dangerous to American society. What I can say with certainty is that the combination of the two is perilous. I could very well be preaching to an empty church. It seems fewer and fewer people are willing to acknowledge that there is even an issue. I wonder what it will take to get people to realize something has gone awry? The possible answers to that question worry me.
The Bottom Line:
It's been said... If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
