Unrecognized Apathy

Yesterday I went with my pastor to visit some of our homebound members. I'm currently doing my supervised ministry and decided to make visits part of my ministry experience. I just assumed we would have to drive some distance, but before I knew it he had pulled into a driveway just several yards from Campbell buildings.

I had seen the house so many times, but I had failed to think about who was inside. As we went in we got to talk with an amazing lady. Living in Buies Creek and being much older than myself, I didn't really think much about what she used to do. Then I found out she used to be a surgical nurse and ran an operating room.

We went to the next house where the lady said how she used to walk a mile to go to school in Buies Creek. We complain about walking across campus from a far away parking space. She told me how her husband had built the very house she lived in because their old one, which you could see from her driveway, was too big for them as they got older. She said she was amazed that there was a Chinese resteraunt around. I thought I was amazed...nothing compared to her, I'm sure.

We went to the third house and I met a lady who was super sweet and invited me back at least twice. She talked about Mae (May?) Marshbanks, whom I found out is 90 years old. I think about that. 90. That means she was 65 years old when I was born. My whole life is just a fraction of her time here on earth, her experience, her wisdom.

All these houses sit around the Creek and we students fail to think about the hands that built them. We have an apathy regarding community members other than college students or staff, and we have an apathy regarding the history to be found in the stories of homeowners all around us.

We wouldn't call it apathy because we don't recognize it as such. Most people would say, "That's not apathy, it's just that I never noticed." Is that not apathy of that which is not directly concerning ourselves? If apathy is a failure to care, then isn't our failure to notice that which is outside of our immediate realm on campus constitute a form of apathy?

There are several amazing generations living in Buies Creek, and all we care about is ours. We watch Campbell knock things down and build things up. We see our community change all around us. There are people who are living witnesses to this amazing area that has become a part of each students' life story. We have people around who personally knew the individuals our buildings are named after. We have history, wisdom, and godliness all around us and we don't reach out for it.

Sometimes we're quite blind to the blessings that have been here long before we got here.