It was New Years Eve just a few months ago. All of my old high school friends were together, home for Christmas break, ringing in 2016 together. It was probably about 2 am when things went from celebration to angry chaos real quick. I am honestly not sure where it came from. One minute my friend and I were snap chatting someone together and the next, he was verbally attacking me. His disclaimer is that he was drunk, but I really don't care. “Why do you care so much about photography anyways. There are people out there dying of AIDS and cancer and hunger and you're taking pictures. What you do doesn't matter.” It hit me a lot harder than I think he knows. Photography and videography are things that incredibly impact me, and for someone to tell me that I shouldn't care about that, hurt. I won't lie, it was awhile before I picked up the camera, but when I did, I realized he was wrong. It did matter and it always will, and I gathered an important message from this whole experience.
This generation frustrates me for many reasons, something that I have probably made explicitly clear in my writing before, but there's one concept that desperately and continually ticks me off. It's a game I've been susceptible to, one that I've played, one we've all played. Sometimes, when things get hard, when things don't go our way, it's easy to throw our hands up in the air and mutter, “Well. whatever, I just don't care!” Even more, it becomes a certain level of coolness and credibility with our peers to just not give a damn. This applies to all sorts of areas of life. It reaches into simple concepts such as grades and hobbies, and additionally it creeps into deeper things like relationships and beliefs. Admit it, you've played that game. You know, the “he took, like, 2 HOURS to reply to my text so I'm going to wait to reply for at least an hour.” The game of who can care the least in a relationship. Or maybe you'll get a B in a class you absolutely could've gotten an A in. And what's your excuse? “I mean I could've done better, I just didn't apply myself, a B is okay anyways.” Or you'll skip a class or 5 and almost brag to your friends about how many you've gotten away with missing.
Can I let you in on something? Teenagers especially, listen to me, listen well.
It's not cool to not care. Read it again, say it out loud. It's not cool to not care, and don't let them tell you otherwise.
I know this society, and particularly it's media will give you the subconscious underwhelming feeling of life. The insinuation that if you get too excited about something, you're a nerd for it, or even worse, the dreaded title of an OVERACHIEVER. Gasp.
Please, I am begging you, don't buy into the lie that not caring will benefit you and the ones around you. Because I speak from experience when I say that it's poison. It's poison to your life and relationships and callings. Do not accept B's from yourself if you can achieve A's. Don't try to act like you don't care for that person in your life because if you play the game, the game will play you, and they'll be gone. Deny the norm that living in mediocrity is attractive. Instead, live courageously for what sets your soul on fire. Find something that strikes a cord in you, and dive in headfirst. Don't worry about what anyone says. Invest in the ones you love, make a direct effort to love them and make sure that they know it.
Do not let the world tell you that you shouldn't care about something, don't let it tell you that it doesn't matter. If it makes you want to roll out of bed in the morning, embrace it with everything in you.
It matters, you matter. It matters that you care.
