Steinberg Says…Correcting the circle of apathy in life

Alyssa Steinberg
March 19, 2009
Filed under Commentary

   Often times, as nothing more than human machines, we tend to notice things about ourselves that we would much rather leave unnoticed –things that remind us in one way or another that we are forever changing.

   I have been showing a generally lethargic attitude towards all things deemed important for roughly four months now. I say this with certainty and I say it with delight, because for admitting this, I am ever so humbly patting myself on the back.

   I am not just admitting this embarrassing attitude that I have been flaunting for the sake of my own good, either. I see it in others around me –a horde of apathetic students –and I want you to know, whoever you may be, that you are most certainly not alone. It is becoming vitally important that I end this circle of apathy at this very moment, and I can only hope that this feeling carries me throughout the rest of my high school career, and then some.

   Specifically, I do not converse with my parents enough. I do not sleep enough because I just tell myself that I will catch up on the rest of my sleep later. I do my homework at the last minute. Texting has become one of my many guilty pleasures, for sometimes I don’t even feel the urge to make a phone call. And most importantly, I am letting go of friendships that at one point or another I held dear.

   Having come to such a conclusion has brought me to ruminate. When did this happen? At what point in the school year did I decide to lead myself to a point of difficult return? I can only surmise that it is the result of a realization: the realization that, in a few short months, the events of high school will no longer affect my life.

   What I do with the time I am given, and the way I react to it, is what truly defines my worth. So most recently, I have been letting myself down. Not for long, though. I am picking up everything that I so easily put down.  I can only hope that this dwindling of enthusiasm ends with me.