I have been thinking a lot lately about do-gooders and well, the do-nothings.

My first thought is the notion of 20/80; 20% of the people doing 80% of the work. The work in this case is volunteering, watching out for, being apathetic towards and caring about people other than your self.

Now that we live in a “globalized” world we can see more and more people who need more and more. This has left our developed world in quite a predicament because we now see how well off we truly are.

Thinking about the atrocities, poverty and misfortune around the world is hard to do and I am finding, even with myself, you either have to approach global issues fully or forget about them all together.

I know that seems like rather an unconcerned thing to say but you see it all the time. You have people who are SO into the third world, exhausting themselves volunteering for every cause or catastrophe and then you have your neighbor that couldn’t locate Uganda on a map or even spell genocide.

I am not saying that being interested in helping the third world is a bad thing. I think what happens is that the people who do those things see great misery and misfortune that they become apathetic and skeptic towards local issues because the magnitude isn’t as dire. So because your situation isn’t the worst you don’t get assistance at all.

Because we live in this 20/80 world, the 20% of those that care about people become overwhelmed with the misery of others while the other 80% are concerned with the latest UFC match and whether or not they got a raise at work.

I am not here to argue over whether this 80% population needs to get their head out of their ass however I am sure you know my sentiments on that matter. I will say this though, for those of you who struggle with the woes of others and do not act because you’re overwhelmed; I do understand your attitude. You turn on the news and see poverty, death, war and hunger in a part of the world you didn’t know existed and instead of feeling concerned about or helpless to affect you turn it off. I get that because I find myself in that place constantly.

Another issue I am seeing more and more is this notion of “it’s not my job; someone gets paid to do that.” We have now made processes and hired specialists to deal with poverty and people in need in our own community. We just assume that everyone is fine and accounted for.
This just isn’t the case at all. If anything we are ghettoizing all of cities with pockets of poverty and calling them “that part of town” while the more privileged stay glued to their own neighborhood occasionally looking out the window to see all the lawns are mowed, everyone is good, great!

I will tell you this much, you don’t need a degree to be able to care about your neighbor, neighborhood or city. You just have to turn it on.

If I have a target audience for my blog it would be to those in the 80% who see the world and think there is injustice and do not act because they are overwhelmed. I would say to them to start somewhere, just something small. Volunteer once a week doing anything, it doesn’t even have to be for poor people. Just start with anything!

So, I was robbed this week, out of my car sitting in my driveway while I slept.
1 broken window ($300), 2 laptops ($2000), 1 ipod ($250) and roughly $500 of equipment.

Calling the police was useless as they didn’t even come to my house which doesn’t provide much confidence in my local police department. The policeman on the phone wasn’t very helpful either and his lack of concern was clearly present. Not that I was wanting him to be all mushy however I would have felt better if I didn’t call.

Instead of being (or feeling) like the victim, questions like “why would you leave that in your car” lead me to believe that if you cant pinpoint the culprit and attach blame to them then naturally the blame falls to the victim as if I was “asking for it.”

Calling my insurance was a hassle as well. Firstly, I couldn’t get a hold of my adjuster. I called at 8:30am, 10:30, 11:00, 12:30pm and finally at 4pm I was called back. $250 for my car deductible (to get a $300 window replaced) followed up by a $1000 house deductible to replace $2500 of equipment which, once they had finished applying appreciation to my laptops, being heckled for receipts, inquired against and then having my premiums go up it has me at a lose.

All of this to say I have lost my innocence. Not that I was naive enough to think that the system in which we live in isn’t a messed up one but I have never been violated like this before and the impression I got from everyone was “too bad for you, this shit happens.” And really, they are correct with this outlook. Sure, people think it’s a bummer I got robbed. The south end in which I live retains its title of “sketchy” which before my robbery I felt very different about. The culprit whom is now on my laptop doesn’t give a rat’s ass and if anything because of the authorities lack of action thinks he got a pretty good reward for a few mints labour.

The only person left holding the emotional baggage is me. I have had a shit week. Currently my outlook on things is messed, I drive down the road and everyone is suspect. I am quick to make judgment and my faith in society dropped. And I am miserable for it so after this weekend I am going to drop it.

I am going to pretend like the event did not occur because I am not going to let this person who stole my stuff win. I won’t be afraid and live negatively. Sure, I will be a bit more cautious which I can’t see as being a bad thing but business will be back to normal as of Monday. However, today is Friday so who ever that little bastard is who stole my shit…… Your gonna get yours!