I was thinking today about all the suffering that is going on not only around the world, but just around you in every day life.

Do you find yourself not caring whether someone else is suffering?

There are many things happening: War, genocide, murder, starvation, brutality, abuse, racism and the list goes on.

There are many instances when there is really not much we could do, but do we care any more?

I am on a personal level trying to fight myself so that I don't become insensitive to what others are going through. But it does become overwhelming when there is so much going on.

I am curious to see if other young people are trying to fight this as well inside of themselves or if they never cared in the first place. Please explain your reasons.

If everone waws sensitive to everyone else's problems, there would be a lot less problems. No person is completly selfless, and no person is not ignorant of some problems.
While everyone has these traits, only some choose to fight them and act. In this day and age, we are all brought closer through technology, and therefore brought closer to other people's problems, so more people are fighting against insensitivity.

quote:

The world is perfect at every moment, and we can not and should not ever try make this world as perfect as we imagine it to be perfect.

I'm a little late, but could you please elaborate on this. I'm not quite sure I understood.

By the way, thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

I think one of the reasons for the desensitization of society is that we're overwhelmed. There is so much to worry about in the world, so many issues. It's all too much, we don't know how or what to think about it all, how to react, so we care less and less because we don't know how to process it.

Am I desensitized to the evil in the world? yes. But do I care? Yes I still do care.
You have to realize that the world has been a lot worse than this in the past. I think many people would consider it a treat to live in this time period than some of the past time periods... WWII, WWI, Dark Ages, Age of imerialism, even the Cold War. All of those nasty things, violence, war, racism have always been occurring in the world at some point in time at every moment in history. yOu can't, however, let it worry you, because if you do, you only add more pain to the world.
I care about every single bit of this world from the environment to the government to hate groups to pacifists, because for every truth there is an equal an opposite truth. The world is perfect at every moment, and we can not and should not ever try make this world as perfect as we imagine it to be perfect.

I think we're all desensitized significantly.

Personally, I have had a few experiences that will be with me always, and because of those I can never ignore stories of suffering. When you have held the hand of a suffering child and listened to stories told by people who have survived brutal civil war, you can't ever go back to life as it was before those experiences. A friend once said that it is as though you've been ruined. You can never leave that understanding behind because your perspective is forever changed. But I also know that I have never known (and unless my life changes dramatically, will never know) the suffering that most of the rest of the world has been through. I can never truly understand unless I live it.

Being unable to ignore suffering doesn't make it easier to find a way to help. It's so hard to know where my place is. I guess compassion is a start, but I hate myself for not doing more.

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I'm with EG on this one because i have too many of my own problems, i'm only aware of a few issues, like LGBTQ suffering, and suppression.

I only don't care because my mind is so busy contemplating my own suffering. I don't have the capacity to worry about others when I'm dealing with the demons that haunt me.

i think that because we are so far away from it, it just doesnt seem real

I can look at it in one of two ways. I can see the issue as a whole, see where it is going, and observe the influences and outcomes of the general campaign of things. When I do this, I'm pretty much apathetic to the issues of others. I see only the greater good or the greater evil, or the greater stability, etc. Whatever the situation is leading towards. The second way I can look at it is through an individual level. I can put myself in their situation, and I guess you could say, imagine hard enough to feel their pain. I'm a natural empath, but this is the only way I can choose to be empathetic. The rest of the time, it's forced on me. As a note, I usually look through a distant standpoint, at the whole picture.

Thank you for the sincere responses. I respect that.

In a lot of ways, I just never really cared either. I think it's partially human nature -- probably even moreso for men than for women -- for it to be difficult to get riled up about things outside of our immediate lives. If we could even begin to really feel the impact of those suffering from genocide and starvation with the same compassion we feel for our friends and family, we would be crushed. So we simply don't.

I think even those of us who can't muster too much enthusiasm for these causes are uneasy about them, though. I think humans are basically good and will go to some extraordinary lengths to stop injustices in the world; they just have to balance that with their own sanity.

As for desensitization...yeah, that's probably a part of it. Like clpo said, when I see reports of genocide on the news, I sort of think of it like a movie. When I read reports about acts of desperation committed by the homeless, I think of it like a book. It's just another self-defense mechanism, because my mind can't really wrap itself around what's really going on. And in a way, that's a blessing. But I'm not really sure if the term "desensitization" can apply, because I don't really find myself doing this more and more with each report. I've just always done it.

I don't think I ever really cared. When I was younger, I didn't quite grasp the actual suffering going on when all I saw of it was on the TV screen or in my newspaper.

Now that I'm older, I find it easier to just remain uncaring. I'm in my freshman year of college, and things still have yet to iron out, so my main concern is myself. Worrying about things half a world away just clogs up my mind, especially since the realistic part of me (a rather large part) keeps reminding me that there is little that I can do that would be effective. Sure, I can donate a couple bucks to help out in Darfur (and indeed I do), but other than that, what is there? Basically, I leave the worrying to people who want to worry. To me, it's easier to keep my sights on things that affect me the most, which don't generally involve other people (as much as I don't like to say that).

I think another part of my desensitized nature is the fictional violence I've been exposed to growing up. I watch movies where people get killed, play games where people get killed, read books where people get killed. And even though I know now the difference between fiction and reality, it's hard to separate the two when the real life suffering is so distant. I watch the news and liken it to a movie. I read the paper and think about it like a book. I'm sure it would affect me greatly if I saw the suffering first-hand, but that's something I doubt will happen.

I'd say I am very much desensitized, but I'm also aware that I'm like that, and that's what guilts me more than the suffering itself. But even as I say that, I just go about my every day life saying "Tsk, that's too bad," and dropping a couple quarters in a donation can. I'm an interesting person, it would seem. I know I can do more, but I choose not to. I know it's selfish, but I look out for numero uno first and foremost.