Once earlier this year I was having problems coming up with a topic for this article and went asking my friends for ideas. One person told me wasn't sure. "I really liked Lizz's article last week. Write about something interesting like that." At first I was a little shocked‹my articles aren't that boring, are they?

Then I realized what she was getting at. While I write primarily about issues that seem somewhat distant such as elections and voting, Lizz likes to write about topics that more directly affect St. Olaf students like leadership and religion. This person was referring to the general topic of my articles (I hope), rather than the actual content.

At first I was somewhat reproachful of this comment‹why shouldn't national and international topics be considered just as important as those that personally relate to us? But then I realized that I couldn't really disagree with her. I, too, head straight for the articles in newspapers that affect me personally or that I'm interested in. I've even been heard to say that college is a time when everybody is politically apathetic. Especially since we currently live in "the bubble," taking an active interest in the outside world seems like too much effort for too little gain.

But that's just it. It seems that recently this trend has followed students far past college into their adult years. Less and less people, people over the age of 35 even, watch the news, read the papers and they certainly couldn't care less about what's going on in Kreblakistan. Our nation's composition is gradually changing into entirely unconcerned drones who just go about their everyday lives, not thinking about those who dwell outside of this nation.

Some people believe that it just doesn't matter. They adopt the belief that whatever occurs outside of the United States really doesn't affect us here right in the middle of Minnesota, so why should we care? I mean, it's not really about us, is it? After we elect our senators, representatives and so forth, they'll take care of it all, right?

To answer this question, here's a quick anecdote. A friend of mine recently participated in the Term in Asia program. Upon talking to students in Indonesia, she found they were all excited to finally be able to vote for whom they wanted to lead their country. One of the students turned to my friend and said that all the American college students must be this impassioned about politics as well. My friend felt guilt over her country not being the ideal manner in which this other student had pictured it.

We as a country are not impassioned by or about politics, whether domestic or international, at all lately. Since the beginning of the 20th century, now that the United States has become one of the world's primary superpowers, its citizens act as though now they've made it, international affairs are quite inconsequential. The situation is similar to one who has substantially risen in class acting disdainful for all those with whom so recently they were the same. Do we really want to be this a condescending aristocracy of the world?

There are plenty of other reasons why we should care about foreign situations, such as those in the Middle East and Yugoslavia. The world really is just a giant web, and one sudden movement sends waves into every corner. Wars affect us. Ten years ago, the majority of the nation probably assumed that Kuwait was another type of orange, but today people recognize it as an important piece of world influence.

Most importantly, those are people over there. It is not a play being acted out where the blood is false‹innocent people still die horrible deaths in wars. Have we become so above it all that we find it unnecessary to empathize anymore? Think of the most important person in your life, then imagine having to witness them killed by a stray bullet, or crushed to death in rubble. Such situations have lasted years in other parts of the world, yet since it is not local, nobody deems it worthy of our sympathy anymore.

Only 240 years ago, the United States was going through the same thing that these countries are experiencing now as it begun its battle for independence. Only 140 years ago, the United States was torn apart by civil war itself. Now that we have moved past our personal slaughter, should we turn a blind eye to that of others?