A couple months ago I was talking about politics with my friends, and I got into a heated debate with one of my friends and he asked me how I have been personally affected since Trump has been in office. I answered honestly and told him how nothing about my life has changed since Trump has been president. Everything is exactly the same, but his question stuck with me. Last week I was driving through Lancaster and saw a mural that said, “care no matter what.” It made me think about the previous conversation because while things in my life haven’t changed, other people’s lives have significantly changed. It’s not about me and my life- It’s about everyone else who is suffering due to the choices of this administration.
There is a major lack of empathy in our nation right now. I think there are so many factors contributing to it, but regardless of the cause it’s a serious problem. People have sympathy but there’s no empathy. People can say, “wow it’s horrible what’s happening right now,” but they don’t care enough to do something about it. People distance themselves from the atrocities being committed by this administration because it doesn’t affect them, but other people are being affected.
I am fully aware how privileged I am to continue to live the life I always have. I am still able to go to school, eat three meals a day, speak my mind without fear of repercussions, and overall just be who I want and do what I want. Some people don’t have that privilege anymore. Families are being ripped apart. Humans are being put in modern day concentration camps. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are being discriminated against daily. Southern states already took away women’s right to abortion care and now they’re lobbying for bans against certain forms of birth control, and just a couple months ago millions of Americans were stripped of their SNAP benefits due to the government shut down. These people’s lives are being upended every single day. So while you may not be personally affected by the decisions of this administration other people are.
I see things on social media all the time about how people aren’t angry enough about what’s happening in our country and honestly, they’re not. I’m not saying it’s easy when something worse seems to happen everyday, but we still need to care. We need to care about the other human beings that are being harmed by this administration. By not caring and not having empathy we’re allowing those in power to get away unscathed, and we’re allowing them to continue making decisions that hurt people. So although you may not have been affected by the actions of Trump’s administration and I wasn’t affected, Alex Pretti was affected. Renee Good was affected. Liam Ramos was affected. Every single woman that was denied the right to choose was affected. Every single child that went hungry when SNAP benefits were suspended was affected. It shouldn’t be this hard to simply care about other people- literally, just care.
