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In moments of triumph or tribulation, in the heat of a debate or in the impatience of a stalemate, in the breath of new life or the stench of degeneration, there comes a time in every person’s life when he or she gets to ponder on life’s most essential questions:
In all of Space, where are you?
In all of Being, who are you?
In all of History, what have you done?
As we pursue answers to these, we may find ourselves at war with those of another ideological spectrum, or with those who impose tyranny upon our freedoms, or with those who mean well, but cannot allow us to be.
In this war, we may find ourselves in battles that surpass generations, or maybe in battles that resuscitate themselves every once in a while. But more often than not, we leave our feuds in the middle, or allow them to die a natural death when another feud emerges.
At war, we may unsheathe peace and love, or we may resort to violence. Those which inflict harm to bodies may be gruesome, but those who inflict symbolic harm endorse nothing but inhumanity. At war, the sharpest wit may triumph, but it is dulled without any material outcome. Frustration ensues, then we find ourselves at war again.
We are at war every single day. Our demands are always limited by supply, our principles are always vulnerable to the power of persuasion, our agencies always find themselves obstructed by structures, the status quo always wrestles with the inevitability of change, our bodies are always subject to the push and pull of gravity. And in all of these daily wars we engage in, we find an emergency exit in not caring.
But not caring is costly. Fighting may cost you your life, but apathy can cost you your very meaning.
And no, this is not a call to militancy, or dissidence (not unless that is a terrain that you find your heart in). This is a campaign against apathy, and the invitation filters no disposition, ideology, religion, political leaning or eccentricity. This is a campaign that endeavors maximum participation in acting, speaking, listening, thinking.
This campaign presents no promises, not even hope for resolution. Our conflicts may never be resolved; no compromise could probably be reached. But we must never allow our swords to be dropped, or our pens to be without ink. We must always be equipped with the ammunition that is activism, in any of its gradients and forms, and endorse participation at all times, in all our wars. We may never win, nor win anything, but in the end, no form of apathy could ever transcend any battle that had been lost.
Because when asked life’s most essential questions, with absolutely no doubt, the most tragic of answers would be: nowhere, no one, nothing.
