The Faces of Indifference

“Most people would rather be treated badly than treated indifferently. Ignoring their feelings is worse than insulting them. If you really want to irritate people, be cold and unconcerned toward them. You will see it is a fate worse than death.

A Jewish boy from Romania believes this to be true. He saw it first hand during WWII in the concentration camps where he spent many years of his childhood. He survived, but millions of others did not. After the war, he became a writer, college professor, and an activist going on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. His name: Elie Wiesel. He knows what indifference looks like. Here is what he said about it:

The opposite of love is not hate it is indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it is indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it is indifference.
The opposite of life is not death, it is indifference.

Yes, indifference has many faces. Do not let it be your face…” — Nido R. Qubein

Indifference is defined as a lack of concern, interest, or sympathy. It means you are not important, or have no value or worth. It means there is no interest in you. It means they see no significance in you. If you accuse someone of being indifferent, you are saying they have a complete lack of interest in it.

In Proverbs 27:7 it says, “A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” You may wonder how or why I would compare these to each other and I will explain.

One of the keys to living a life of fulfillment is to have a hunger for being concerned, connected, and involved with those around us. We need to stay hungry for life and share what we have been given with those less fortunate. What Solomon was saying in his wisdom was, do not be satisfied with where you are in life. Do not become indifferent to the world around you. In the lives of some, their focus is only on themselves and not on others. They are a satisfied soul and have no desire to help those around them. To the hungry soul, even when they have to eat the bitterness of helping others, they find it sweet. I say bitterness because many times when we help others it winds up costing us money, physical effort, or more importantly, our time.

Spending these – our precious resources for others, is often a deal breaker for many. On the other hand, when we recognize we are simply a conduit through which blessings to those less fortunate can flow, and by having these blessings flow through us, we become blessed as well, and our lives become richer for the choice.

I would think the choice would be simple, but it isn’t due to the fact there is a cost in helping others. Often the cost is our lives such as it is with those serving in our military, police, or fire fighters. And yet, they do so giving of themselves to make the world around them a better place to live. Surely, we can give of what we have been given to those of less fortune.

Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…

Respectfully,

Rick Cox