The danger of caring too much
How much should you care about things that don't directly affect you?
This is a question I often ask myself. It’s more complicated than it seems on the surface.
It's self-evident that the correct answer is neither 'not at all' nor 'a huge amount, all of the time'.
The former is a level of apathy that would be sociopathic, if not outright psychopathic. If we all operated in such an indifferent, cold manner, then we would not care at all about tragedy, crime, or suffering, unless we are personally the victims. We would not feel any joy in the achievements or fortune of others. There would be no families, no culture, no community, no love, not much of anything that makes us human.
On the other extreme end, if we were to feel and care about every single one of the trillions of daily events that occur all over the world, then we would not be able to function. We would be useless creatures, permanently terrified and immobilised by the burdens, dangers, and pain of the world. Our brains would not even be able to handle the flood of information.
Thankfully, in reality, we all exist somewhere between the extremes.
With that said, some people put too much time, energy, and focus into things that do not affect them, and that they have no control over.
While I believe it is good to have some level of awareness of what's going on in the world, we can be driven to madness by obsessively focusing on it. There is an opportunity cost because our resources are limited.
If all of our time and energy is spent on things that we cannot control, we have nothing left for what lies within our remit.
Moreover, because we are particularly sensitive to potential threats and negative emotions, it is a great source of misery, anger, and division.
Our species has never been so interconnected, with infinite information at our fingertips, and access to news, opinions, and gossip from all over the world. Through the internet, we can read and hear the opinions of hundreds of millions of people, all over the Earth.
This has some benefits, but we must be careful not to take on all of the burdens of the world.
It is natural to feel encouraged by positive news, and disheartened by negative news. The closer the real or perceived connection, the more we tend to feel it.
But we can't lose sight of who and what is around us. Ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.
None of us have the power to fix the entire world and everything in it. Thankfully, we don't have the responsibility either.
So, do your best with what's within your power. That, in itself, is a worthy life mission.