As evil forces swept across the land in 1939, a small nation watched silently as neighboring countries fell one by one. Everything seemed hopeless and it was only a matter of time before the enemy would attack them.

Even under imminent threat all the nation’s Prime Minister could think of doing was pursuing hopeless negotiations, while chanting the motto “Peace at all costs!” Neville Chamberlain did little to prepare to resist until his status as prime minister changed a year later.

Winston Churchill came into power, and immediately began to prepare England for defense against Germany and the Axis powers. His rallying cry that rang throughout the country was “Victory at all costs!” letting the enemy know that England was a sovereign nation, and that it would not fall under pressure or attacks.

Isn’t it interesting that one man’s indifference left his country vulnerable to an impending invasion, while the other’s passion saved an entire nation from defeat and it is certain that if Churchill hadn’t taken office in 1940, England probably would have been destroyed by Chamberlain’s failure to take action?

While there may be a lot that can be debated about in the politics of aggression, a simple reminder of the dangers of indifference was provided by Martin Niemoller, who said: “First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communist. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Trade Unionist. I was silent. I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.”

Similarly Martin Luther King Jr. stated: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

George Bernard Shaw said that: “Indifference is the essence of inhumanity” and Elie Wiesel has further suggested that: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

Indifference, other wise known as apathy, is not only a problem for those who hold the fate of a country in their hands, but it is something most of us will find in our own lives. It is not just a matter of things we have no interest in, it becomes a matter that we just simply do not care. It is an attitude that is not only disastrous when it comes to defending your country from an invading host, but it also hurts our relationships, keeps us from accomplishing great things in our lives and as Edmund Burke has wisely warned, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Helen Keller wisely noted that: “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.” Joan Vinge suggests that, “Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it.”

Recognizing the human tendency toward complacency and indifference, Robert M. Hutchins warned, “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

It would appear that one’s ability to over come indifference is to recognize a personal self interest, whose “sum of the parts is greater than the whole.” Julius Caesar once recognized the dangers of indifference to his cause and made a bold and decisive move to guarantee the success on the battlefield, after landing on the shores of England.

Facing a foe, whose men out-numbered his own; he marched his men to the edge of the Cliffs of Dover and ordered them to look down at the ships, which had carried his men across the channel. Addressing his men before the first battle, General Caesar pointed out how his orders to burn the ships were being carried out. One can only imagine the impact this must have had on his men, as they watched the boats going up in smoke. Firmly reminding them that the only way they could leave that shore alive was by winning the war. “We have no choice”, he said, “we win–or perish!” They won.