“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings” — Helen Keller (1880-1968) According to Helen Keller, apathy is the worst possible evil for which no cure is available. It must be remembered that Keller was a deaf and blind lady who, overcame her disabilities to become a famous writer, political activist and a lecturer. Having led a tough life, it seems understandable that she received not only innumerable compliments but also had to face many adversaries in her struggle in trying to make America a socialist country. In her biography, “Story of my life”, Keller observed that newspaper columnists who spoke highly about her courage and intelligence, before she started professing her socialist leanings, began to hold her physical shortcomings responsible for her ‘mistakes’ in harboring socialist views. Talking about a particular editor of the “Brooklyn Eagle”, Keller writes” “At that time the compliments he paid me were so generous that I blush to remember them. But now that I have come out for socialism he reminds me and the public that I am blind and deaf and especially liable to error. I must have shrunk in intelligence during the years since I met him…. Oh, ridiculous Brooklyn Eagle! Socially blind and deaf, it defends an intolerable system, a system that is the cause of much of the physical blindness and deafness which we are trying to prevent.” This clearly highlights apathy prevalent in our society where non-conformism is attributed to mental or physical deformities when there is nothing else to lay the blame on. We do understand apathy as a state of mind where there is loss of interest or emotions—a sort of ‘I don’t care’ attitude towards anything in general, and something in particular. This could be on two accounts. Either there is physical ailment because of which people are unable to respond or are incapacitated on account of some mental disorder because of which they are unable to perceive a volatile situation. For example a child who accidentally falls down the stairs would be quickly picked up by a sympathetic person but maybe left crying by someone who is both blind and deaf or one whose absent-mindedness may prevent him from proactively reacting to the child’s tribulation. However, apathy syndrome would be explicitly visible in the case of a normally fit person who chooses to simply look away without coming to the rescue of the child. Apathy is now being looked upon as a temporary relief syndrome as it allows a disturbed mind to regain its balance from an emotional turbulence that it may be experiencing. There are some occasions when a person can be flooded with complicated emotions and unable to rationalize his situation, he is prevented from dealing with it in a manner that would rescue him from his own scattered self With due respect to Helen Keller who considered apathy as evil and despite the fact that for majority of the people, it is most distressing to have around them persons with extremely callous attitude, apathy can be taken with a positive stride. We are tuned to thinking that apathy is bad and portrays hard-heartedness the like of which can be seen in the shape of crooked politicians, who for their selfish aims are willing to jeopardize the lives of innocent citizens or in their pursuit of ambitions can mercilessly kill harmless children or force them into leading miserable lives as in Yemen, Palestine and Syria. Undoubtedly, this can be termed as the worst form of apathy which definitely cannot be condoned. This is a direct attack on the universal conscience that has become highly indifferent about mankind’s plight. Instead of there being a global political movement, a few activists are attempting to draw attention of the world leaders without much substantial success. Amid this furor there is also another side of the coin that is now being thought of as the positive side of apathy. Apathy is now being looked upon as a temporary relief syndrome as it allows a disturbed mind to regain its balance from an emotional turbulence that it may be experiencing. There are some occasions when a person can be flooded with complicated emotions and unable to rationalize his situation, he is prevented from dealing with it in a manner that would rescue him from his own scattered self. With an overworked mind, the natural outcome, as in the computers for example, is to shut down causing the conscious mind to disconnect from the stormy emotional part of the mind. This renders everything silent. There appears a total vacuum where nothing seems attractive or hurtful. All excitements are subdued. The feelings of joy, anger, anxiety or sadness get numbed. There is total blackout. They say that stars shine the brightest when nights are darkest. Similarly, this phase enables enlightenment to switch on those lights that help the logical mind to contemplate clearly and restore the balance—integration of logic and emotions—which is perhaps the most difficult thing to do but which is a vital ingredient for sanity. Of course this ought to be a transitory stage otherwise falling constantly in and out of the process of disconnection could lead to prolonged apathy and ‘learned helplessness’ (behavior that occurs when the subject endures repeatedly painful or otherwise aversive stimuli which it is unable to escape from or avoid). The general makeup of our society has very little room for emotional vents because of many taboos, dos and don’ts, lack of quality entertainment facilities and above all, most of the elders are not equipped to handle crisis situations themselves let alone train the youngsters to manage internal conflicts while growing up. The rapidly rising addiction to all kinds of drugs, increase in the number of suicides and familicides are symptoms of the existence of chronic apathy which if untreated can result in deep depression. To overcome apathy, there is a need to foster motivation at all levels. Youth should not be snubbed by elders when they excitedly talk about bringing a revolution or making politics more constructive. Youngsters in the families should be allowed to pursue games, music, arts and other hobbies that can spur on their creativity and give them an aim in life. If the elders are apprehensive about their activities, the best way out would be to participate themselves or accompany them and teach them to tread the thin line between right and wrong rather than discouraging and demotivating them. The media has an integral role to play in boosting the morale of the youth. At present they are engaged in dampening their enthusiasm with all kinds of talk shows carrying opinions of tried, tested and failed experts, professionals and politicians who merely give a doomsday picture of whatever is going on in the world and the country. There is a need for programmes that can inspire and waken up their spirits, opening their eyes to new avenues. This would help to inculcate hope and make them see a brighter future ahead allowing them to think and feel without fear and without conflict. The writer, lawyer and author, is an Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Published in Daily Times, December 16th2018.