“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.” —Elie Wiesel
The other day, I went for a run. I ran down a street just two blocks from the ocean. Beautiful, right? Sound of the waves, smell of the ocean—then bam, squish, I step right into a pile of dog crap. As I looked down, I noticed not one but multiple piles of it scattered over the sidewalk adjacent to a “crappy” lawn.
You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she treats the Earth.
I had four more miles to run, giving me ample time to reflect on the people in that house that didn’t pick up after their dog. They live in a nice home so close to the ocean; probably pay a lot of money for that location; and probably LOVE the ocean. Don’t they know that their dog’s waste will eventually be washed by the rain into the storm drains, which eventually leads to the ocean that they probably love to swim in? That it will end up in the seafood that they, their friends and family may eat? Do they want to eat and swim in their dog’s feces? I wondered. đŸ˜‰ I’ve got to believe they don’t! Yet, either they do or they are ignorant and don’t recognize the consequence, or a worse possibility is that they know yet are indifferent. They don’t care enough to bend down and clean it up, and, perhaps, that is most deplorable.
With a mile or so left to run, I got to thinking about the subject of indifference. I had recently seen the movie The Hunger Games with my children. The Hunger Games—science fiction, right? Yes, absolutely, which is why it made sense when my daughter said, “It was a good movie but hard to believe because in real life people would not treat other people the way they did in that movie.” However, not long after, my family watched the Oscar-winning movie 12 Years a Slave, based on a true story, which would illustrate to my daughter just how horribly humans can treat one another and how indifferent we can be to another’s plight if it makes our own life easy.
People can detach themselves from compassion, empathy and humanity when those emotions run the risk of inconveniencing them. How does all cruelty start? My belief is it begins with indifference.
So, what does indifference have to do with our April edition? (I am getting there, I promise!) This month’s issue is chock-full of new and innovative ideas on green living. “Heirloom Home” (see page 22) offers great tips about repurposing and upcycling items for a beautiful home. More importantly, though, we tracked down some of Long Island’s Earth Day celebrations and activities that you can share with your children and listed them for you. It is important to teach our children at a young age to respect and love the Earth, for it truly correlates to our respect and love for each other. For example, teaching the value of worms to the soil shows the value of every one of God’s creatures and helps create a potentially more caring and, hopefully, “indifferent-free world.”
Too busy to attend these celebrations, but still want to participate? Then, if you have the courage, talk to that neighbor about the dog poop on the lawn, delicately, and with compassion and respect. And, if that doesn’t work, do what I am going to do and feel free to leave this letter in his/her mailbox. đŸ™‚
Malama Pono!
Kelly Martinsen, Publisher
