Apathy. This is a word associated with a ‘don’t-care’ outlook, an attitude of simply not caring about what is happening around one, disinterest, disengagement (or an apparent ‘checking out’) from society and a refusal to try and change what has gone wrong; sometimes, it’s the ignoring of a problem, burying one’s head in the sand, so to speak.

Picture a world in which every person you knew, regardless of their race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and gender fitted this description. Now, picture a world in which this trend was passed from one generation to the next. Seems bleak, doesn’t it? Tragically, this is exactly what is happening right now, at this very moment …

I am struck particularly by the apathy of young people; however, what’s worse is the apathy invading all generations. It seems that apathetic parents give rise to apathetic children. Today’s youngsters lack focus, motivation, determination and drive. A broad generalisation? Take a look at the calibre of today’s public school education graduates; aside from a handful who excel (despite being subjected to a painfully inept education system and syllabus), the vast majority pass by the skin of their teeth (or not at all).

Today, in general, young people have done the unthinkable; they are taking the freedoms our predecessors fought for and, ultimately, died for, for granted. It becomes glaringly obvious when one looks at most South African schools, from the appalling conditions of the classrooms (defaced desks, broken windows, stripped linoleum, and so forth) to the blatant disrespect for teachers.

I am the elder part of this same generation, yet even I am confounded by this dire and terrible shift. Teenagers of colour who lived during the 1950s and 1960s would have given anything to be afforded the opportunities scoffed at by today’s youth.

We live in exciting times; with enough diligence, the sky’s the limit as to what can be achieved. To echo the words of President Barack Obama, ‘where there’s breath, there’s hope’ – it is up to us as the younger generation to find it within ourselves.

When the age of democracy in South Africa began almost fifteen years ago, people were sceptical … They were scornful, cynical … They scoffed, but here we are, very much still standing. We’ve attained such great heights; this apathy is but a stumbling block to us flying even higher. Can it be defeated? Can we prove our critics wrong, yet again? The power lies with those, who are not even aware that they have it …