Apathy. Noun: 1. Lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference. 2. Lack of emotion or feeling.
Normally, when doing my daily devotion I try to put all concerns and considerations about the situation in the country out of my mind so that I can be open to receive whatever spiritual food God seeks to nourish me with for the day. Should one be a social activist, even at the place of prayer? After all, life is not touched only by matters of human governance; there is that extremely important issue of divine governance as well, which compels one to ensure that the soul and spirit are in good standing before their Maker even though the physical, earthly body might be pining away under man-imposed burdens.
However, anyone who knows the book of Jeremiah realises how challenging it is not to constantly impose a present-day interpretation on it. It is scathing in the accusations it levels against the people: “For my people are foolish, they have not known me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” (4:22) But it is the leaders, especially the religious ones, who come under the greatest condemnation: “I have seen a terrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from wickedness…” (23:14) Well, what does all of this have to do with the topic of apathy? It all started when I read Jeremiah 5: 31: “The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power, And my people love to have it so…” (my emphasis).
That verse hit me afresh, like a thunderbolt! Apathy is probably the greatest indicator of a people’s culpability regarding how they are governed, and possibly the reason for the commonly held belief that a people deserve the kind of leaders they get. The people of Jeremiah’s day were not ignorant; they were aware that their prophets were telling them lies and their priests exercising power not according to God’s dictate, but they just didn’t care. It was okay by them. The commentary I read made reference to this common saying: “There are none so deaf as those who do not wish to hear; none so blind as those who do not wish to see.” How so pathetically true!
I’m just wondering, could apathy be the default disposition for most of us? It does fit in perfectly, doesn’t it, with the belief held by many that things are pre-determined, and there is nothing to be done to change them. Of course, the problem is that this belief is not consistent – and thank God it isn’t! For the same people who hold the view may still be found labouring at some task, seeking to break through the limitations which threaten their success. However, this attitude is pervasive when it comes to the relationship between us and our leaders: we are aware of their misrule on various fronts but we “love to have it so”; we are not sufficiently bothered to seek to do anything about it. We even advance puerile arguments in their defence: “It is their time; it is God that has raised them up.”
Is this a reasonable position for a people to take, or rather, to continue to take? How can we keep longing for “a better life” and not realise that it has to be demanded, worked for and fashioned by our own hands, not simply handed over through some act of benevolence? Several visiting foreign dignitaries over the past couple of years have remarked that Nigerians must begin to demand good governance from their leaders. Do we know how to do that? But more importantly, are we bothered enough to begin to find out how to go about it?
The apathy in the land might be understandable though, to a certain degree, for we have been thoroughly pauperised and dehumanised. For the overwhelming majority of the people, especially the 70 per cent or more who live in abject poverty, all their energies have to be taken up with merely surviving. It would be almost insensitive to demand anything extra from them. But how about the others? Unfortunately, one finds disturbing levels of apathy equally among those who, by virtue of their education or social status, should normally be at the vanguard of efforts to bring about good governance in our nation. The problem, however, is that most of those in that category have created their own little world, a well-sanitised “bubble” in which they live, so that they do not come in constant confrontation with the desperate realities of the majority of their compatriots.
I have had some experiences of recent which can only be described as frightening. I once saw along a street in Lagos a bundle of rags on the road, moving ahead of me all by itself. It had rained, and the ground was muddy, since the road was riddled with potholes. The bundle inched its way along and I kept wondering what it could be, until I came up beside it and found that “it” had a head! That was a human being, just like me. How could one succumb to apathy while such occurrences are rampant in the land?
