LEAVING Nemo (Nobody)

Author Dale Eldon

"I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn."~Leo Buscaglia

More and more people are becoming apathetic. For some, they just don’t see a reason to care. For others it’s a survival mechanism. By not caring they can live a happy life which is an oxymoron. They care only to live in bliss even at the sacrifice of things they care about.

Relationships, the world around them, anything that threatens their bliss. And when things happen where they might have to care, and understand, they crawl back inside of their hole. They push harder and harder to become a nobody, or as it is in Latin, a nemo.

It’s easier to move on and be happy when you don’t have to care about anything. The more you limit your emotions, the more you just exist without empathy or sympathy, the better your life is; well from this perspective.

But this is the epidemic of our modern society. Instead of reaching for God, or leaning on those who care about them, they work on not caring themselves. Which means they end up losing feeling for those or things they love.

Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, but then again I've always cared. Maybe it’s because I've always been a writer even before I picked up a pen. What I do know is that I care too much for those who do not. They’re incapable of understanding because they don’t care to. They’re unwilling to care about my perspective. And that’s okay, but to me apathy is death.

As a writer I care about a lot of things. I look at them as a child would. I care about people I love even when they become apathetic. I care about those I use to hate because really they’re only a version of me if I went down a different path. To be apathetic to them would mean I’d deserve the same in return. I don’t. If people don’t want to care, then that’s their problem. I can’t make their lives better for them, they have to do that. They’re adults, they have to want it. For those who claim that I have helped them, I couldn't have done so without their willingness. And they’re some of the best people I know.

I have a huge amount of respect and love for those who can pull themselves up, and carry on and do so with love and passion. Those very people I hold a level of understanding for more than they will ever realize; why? Because I care. Because I’m not apathetic. If I was I wouldn't be an important factor of their lives, and rightfully so.

I don’t want to be a nobody. My name’s not Nemo. And let me tell you apathetics out there something, without the few people who care about me, I’d be nothing. Which would make me a nobody. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to name call here, but look at it this way, if you don’t care about anything or anyone, then who are you? Why should you matter? What’s the point to anything in your life? Just think about it. I’d rather see people wake up and become a somebody than stay the way they are. People have the chance to shine; some of the worse have the brightest center. They just need to care.

And this isn't only the worse thing in the world, which it is, it’s even worse for us writers. We need to care. We need to love. I can write a book from the POV of a monster human or not, go so dark it makes your stomach churn, but that doesn't mean I don’t care. The reason I can write dark stories is because I do care. I recognize that they’re dark. If I didn't care then it wouldn't matter if they’re dark or not.

Love. Passion. Do it and repeat. Be fulfilled. Don’t be empty, don’t be a nobody. And if you are a nobody, if there's a faint hint of care in your heart, then do something about it. We can't change the world, but we can change ourselves.