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As president of the Caring Institute, I read with more than passing interest Alan Green’s article, “Care Bare” (11/15).
While I found the article well written and amusing, I found myself saddened by the possibility the author might not be entirely in jest. If that is the case—if, Mr. Green, your editorial staff or any of your readers truly think no one cares anymore—I invite you to join us Saturday night Nov. 23 at the Mellon Auditorium for the ninth National Caring Awards.
If you or your readers were to join us, I suspect you will find Green’s conclusions difficult if not impossible to support. You will meet caring people from every part of our country and all walks of life. These are the people who form the fabric of our society. While they differ in almost every other aspect, it is what they have in common that matters. They care.
Ten years ago, when we began the Caring Awards, our efforts were by a number of people who shared Green’s sentiments. We were told we would have difficulty finding enough people of such quality to sustain this process.
Happily, nothing has proved to be further from the truth. All we had to do was ask. All we had to do was look. Once you scratch the surface, once you get beyond temptation to be cynical, short-sighted, and glib, you will find caring is still America’s core value.
Green is right about one thing. The enemy is our apathy—literally “a-pathos,” or not caring. But we have a choice. We can either feed that apathy with our cynicism and indifference or we can look beneath the surface, find, and build the well of goodness that resides at the foundation of our society and the center of our souls.
President, The Caring Institute
Capitol Hill