While sitting around early one morning last week drinking coffee at PJ’s in LaPlace, the upcoming election was the topic of conversation. Everyone agreed that this year the lack of interest is at an all-time high. Some of the reasons given were because there were no statewide, exciting elections, that the economy made it difficult to raise money to have an aggressive campaign and the caliber of some new names in the political arena left a lot to be desired.

Thinking about the issue later that day, I was reminded of something I heard a few years ago.

Most of my life, I thought the opposite of love was hate. One day, while driving to New Orleans across the Bonnet Carre Spillway, I was listening to a Christian radio program and the speaker said that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. “Apathy!” I thought. “Such a harmless sounding word.”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that apathy is one of the most destructive forces facing mankind. Apathy – indifference, lack of compassion or whatever we choose to call it – is an enemy to God, family, community, church, America and the world.

We’ve often heard it said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Apathy will cause us to do nothing when a wrong needs to be corrected. When a person is apathetic, most of the time that person is selfish.

We have seen T-shirts that read, “Football Rules,” “Seniors Rule,” etc. An appropriate slogan for our community could be “Apathy Rules.”

This year, apathy could be the reason many voters will stay away from the polls, thereby allowing selfish interest groups to elect people who have personal agendas and not necessarily the public’s interest at heart.

Apathy has allowed our public educational system to become a second-class system. Apathy has allowed us, the greatest nation ever created, to be on the losing side of an ongoing drug war.

Come to think of it, apathy will send many people to an eternity in hell. Why such a statement? It’s easy, because Revelation 3:15-16 reads, “I know you well – you are neither hot, nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!”

Apathy – such a harmless sounding word, but, oh, how destructive.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-652-8477, or email hkeller@comcast.net.