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Abandoned issues: a result of complacency

As children, we were always sure to let adults know what we liked, what we did not like and what we wanted to do with our lives.

It occasionally seems like growing up can bring a lack of passion for activities and ideas. By the time we are able to actually make a difference, we have already become too apathetic about it.

Nowadays, if an organization wants the world to get involved in its issue, it will post about it on the Internet in the hopes of it going viral. However, like any Internet sensation, this time in the spotlight is fleeting. Once this issue has lost readers and viewers, it becomes easier to be pushed under the rug.

It’s easy for adults — especially college students — to be briefly passionate about an issue and then forget about this same issue when their schedule becomes too hectic.

The Kony 2012 Campaign is one example of an international issue that spiked the world’s interest. This campaign was geared toward the arrest of Joseph Kony — the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group in Africa that is known for selling children as sex slaves or soldiers. When people originally heard of this, they were outraged and demanded justice. It is now 2013, Kony has not been captured and barely any of the world remains concerned about it.

Almost every student at UH has similar complaints about the University. Students usually agree that the streets need to be repaved, the parking needs to be cheaper and more easily accessible and there needs to be a proper drainage system so we do not have to swim to class after a big rain. If we feel strongly enough to complain about these things, we should have the passion to try to change it.

I greatly respect people who go out and advocate for the issues they believe in and fight the issues they don’t. Don’t lose interest. Don’t find something better to do. Odds are, that same issue will still be an concern months from now, and people will wish they would have stayed present and enthusiastic.

If someone were to tell a child that they could not achieve something, the first thing the child would ask would be, “Well, why not?”

Adults need some of this curiosity.

 Opinion columnist Kelly Schafler is a print journalism junior and may be reached at [email protected].

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