Motivating People to Care

“We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Growing up in the 90s, of course I was excited upon hearing of this game Pokémon Go. It was my childhood dream to be able to join Ash, Brock and Misty to chase after Pokémon and now the time has come where it's possible.I can confidently (but not comfortably) admit that I am fairly average North American consumer. I fall into branding and marketing traps (like this), I spend money multiple times a week, I buy things based off user reviews, I buy things because they are cute (like this) and I enjoy the momentary sense of joy, etc.Although I can admit to being an average consumer I don't believe that my interests are similar to that of the average North American. I don't feel phased by pop culture and I try to focus my interests on the things that I find actually help me move toward self-actualization. I believe that when we feed into these futile 'trends' of pop culture it does nothing but fuel a manic machine. I don't condone that, so I try to stay out of it.  Although I often have a lot I could say, I don't feel it's worth my time and that it doesn't deserve my energy.What I'm trying to get at here is that I normally would not write a blog post about a video game that has gained media attention BUT I recently started seeing exactly how popular this game is... and it started making me feel incredibly frustrated with humanity.How can such a huge number of people be so mindlessly entertained by a virtual game when there are real issues in the world.So I started to question...

How do we get people to care about things that directly impact them and our planet?↠ How do we get people to care about politics and our economy as much as they care about an award show or a sporting event?↠ How do we get people to care about other humans who are fleeing their homes in desperate need of escaping a horrific war?↠ How do we get people to care about the thousands of animals who are killed every second in slaughterhouses around the world?↠ How do we get people to care about young children being trafficked, abused and exploited?

We're so easily influenced by media, our peers and our idols; it's too bad that most everyone we receive this guidance from are strictly living from a place of ego. Power and vanity are running our world.We need more people to show others the way, to think for themselves and to value the lives of others. We need compassion, understanding and patience. We need education and guidance in the right direction. The issue is that so many people don't want to spend time searching, they just want to listen to what they're told... it's such a shame those doing the teaching are not giving meaningful information.If we can get such a huge number of people out of their homes and feeling connected with others simply to play a virtual game like Pokémon Go, there has to be a way to get people that emotionally invested in something that actually matters.I'm at a loss but I hope to spend more time trying to figure out how it's possible.