Apathetic? moi?

Just a moment ago, some young men came to the door. They were wearing their Boulder gear (for those of you who don't know Boulder fashions itself to be like Berkeley except that Boulder County has the largest population of people with trust funds in the country) and an Environment Colorado patch. They were looking for funds to promote a new initiative for the Colorado ballet. They boasted of having passed a bill that made it mandatory for 10 % of energy to come from renewable sources.

Of course, they missed the part of their training where Xcel energy then passed rate increases citing the legislation as the reason for the rate increase. But that's beside the point.

They were young, confident and male. And I am, well, old, realistic, and female. When I wasn't wowed over by their intelligence on Global Warming, they glowered at me and said "good luck with your apathy".

Now that stings. Apathetic? me?

Why is it that our depth of conversation is so limited that we are not allowed to disagree? I am not against initiatives to stop global warming. I am against wasting my time trying to pass them in a deeply conservative state such as Colorado, home of Focus on the Family. Having watched our current governor destroy and/or close fabulous one-of-a-kind functioning programs, such as the Circle program for alcoholics, it's hard to believe that anyone in Colorado would vote for an initiative to decrease global warming.

Is that apathy? I guess so. I have been called worse.

I just am not all that certain that the world is really interested in changing anything, let alone policies to change global warming. We had a chance at smaller cars and almost everyone chose an SUV. Heck, we studied Ethanol fuel when I was in 4th grade in 1973! It was viable in 1973! Now it's something BRAND NEW!

I guess I have reason to be apathetic.

In my defense, I am not so arrogant as to assume that I can tell anyone how to live. I believe that we are an educated society. Each of us has the capacity to make our own choices, think our own thoughts, and live our own lives. I am not so arrogant as to assume that I can tell people that they should or shouldn't do one thing or another. That is their choice, their right.

Still I wish I had encouraged these bright shining young men to find something that was worth their energy, instead of something that will never make a difference. I could have said that. But I didn't. They called me apathetic and stomped off.
I guess I was too apathetic to call after them.

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