You Cannot Possibly Care About Everything
You cannot possibly care about everything. Pick a few things and give it your all.
— me, in 2023
It’s taken real restraint as a Type 7 to wait until my third post to discuss the Enneagram. It will take even more restraint to only hyperlink out to it and wait for some other post to delve into why I built a site about the Enneagram that I can hyperlink out to.
What is relevant for today’s topic is why I’ve kept the tweet above pinned to my profile for more than three years.
“Of all the things that I care about, yes, it is below my line.”
— Chamath Palihapitiya, in 2022
This quote got Chamath into a lot of hot water when he used it to explain why he and many other people don’t care about China's persecution of the Uyghur Muslim minority, including allegations of genocide and mass detention. He later clarified:
“In re-listening to this week's podcast, I recognize that I come across as lacking empathy...As a refugee, my family fled a country with its own set of human rights issues so this is something that is very much a part of my lived experience...To be clear, my belief is that human rights matter…Full stop."
— Chamath Palihapitiya, in the aftermath
I'd like to think "we can all agree" that what is happening in China is abhorrent. The reality is even four years later, many people don't even know it's happening. In part because China sweeps it under the rug, and also because the West doesn't want to ruffle China's feathers, so it chooses to leave the issue below its line.
It pains me to see this major human rights violation get so little attention. But without getting into an atrocity-measuring contest, I'm not sure what to do about it.
This is what makes me feel sympathy for the concept of some awful thing being below someone's line. There are dozens of horrific things that happen across the Earth every day. I won't even risk naming some for fear of appearing to exclude others. But certainly there are some that come to mind as you read this post.
I've thought quite deeply about this issue. Do I become an activist for this cause? Do I protest outside the Chinese embassy? Do I donate to some nonprofit working to bring greater awareness to this issue? Do I do this for other big issues too?
The honest truth is I am one person, I have only a handful of waking hours each day, and I have my own hierarchy of needs to take care of before I can take care of others far beyond me.
My own safety, my development, then my family's safety and its development, then onwards and outwards until I reach other humans on the other side of the planet.
Millions of other humans on the other side of the planet, suffering at the hands of this government.
Billions of humans across the planet, suffering needlessly for reasons that I cannot possibly summarize here.
It would be privileged of me to claim that this issue is more important to spend time on than another. It would be even more privileged of me to insist others join me in focusing their limited hours and resources on this, to the exclusion of other issues they feel are important.
And so, I choose to focus on what I can control.
It takes real restraint to do this. And I can't say I am particularly proud of that fact either.
But I cannot possibly care about everything. So I will pick a few things and give it my all.
And I sincerely hope some people close to each issue have the courage and time and resources to place solving it above their line.