Reminder To Myself

He doesn't listen. He has no will to learn, no interest in what others have to say. He won't have intellectual conversations, with anybody. He doesn't seem to give a shiit what someone older or more experienced has to tell him, or share with him. People try to help him and he actually seems to put effort into making you feel like you are burdening him by talking to him, and that he would prefer to be anywhere but where he is, he'd rather be doing anything but learning. He doesn't seem to take interest in anything. Specifically, anything real, anything that matters. He really, honestly seems to have no interest in the world around him. His own narrow world is all there is to him.

It freaks me out. There are people like this, who just don't care.

And...this is my brother. My own blood. He grew up in the same environment I did. With a father who has always encouraged us to think and gather our own information. In a household where we have been encouraged to have our own opinions. Joe has been raised in a world where he is encouraged to think, and he still somehow ended up..like he is.

What about children who grow up in a home not conducive to thinking and learning? I can't imagine it. The world would be so different. You know, I never really thought about it before. I always see the world through my eyes. Through my circumstances.

"We do not see the world as it is - we see the world as we are."

-Anais Nin

I know I need to empathize. I know it's not their fault, I shouldn't look down on these people. But I don't like it. It's frustrating, and it drives me crazy that I put all this effort into making things better for those less powerful than I...and there are so many others that just don't care.

But I can't look down on people him for caring less than me, for valuing education and intelligence and learning less than me. I can't look down on people for not being passionate and opinionated and wanting to save the world like I do. I can't be angry at people for not being me.