Dear Editor:
APATHY- the lack of interest in something that might ordinarily elicit interest or emotion.
My grandson spent an afternoon with me last week. While he was here, I did something that’s been on my mind for awhile now. I apologized to him for my political apathy in years past. I wanted him to know how bad I felt about not paying attention to what our political leaders were doing when I was younger. Maybe, I said, if I had done that, I could have passed on to him a country better than what he will probably get.
When I was younger, I was a mother: I worked, cooked and cleaned, trimmed the hedges, etc. I went about the business of my life without paying much attention to politics and, more importantly, the people running our country, from the local level up to the national. I realize now how wrong and mistaken that was. I thought I didn’t have time. I still think I didn’t, but for the sake of our country, I should have made the time and let the dishes and hedges wait. Everyone should. That’s the lesson I have learned, and the one that caused me to know I owed my grandson an apology for the country he is being given.
What a sorry state of affairs we are leaving them! Alabama is now suffering the blight of some of the most corrupt government in the country. The United States as a whole is in a terrible mess. Dependence on the government for aid and, in some cases, a person’s entire existence, is at an all-time high. Our debt is completely out of control. And that’s just the beginning of the list.
The sad fact of the matter is, the politicians and the powers-that-be count on this very thing. Republican, Democrat or Independent, they would never get away with all they manage to get away with if the public was extremely aware and involved.
Several years ago I wrote a letter to the editor about how political leaders take advantage of the fact that the “Boss is never around.” One of them wrote me back a lengthy letter of reply, lambasting me for saying he was never around. He thought I was talking about him! Folks, we are their boss, not the other way around. Maybe it’s time we took our responsibility more seriously. Our children and grandchildren deserve better.
Talitha Eastridge
Norris
Opelika