I’m aware. Now what? A letter to the editor

A pleasant stroll through Worner Center or a fervent need to relieve yourself in any campus bathroom will lead you to one conclusion: CC students care. A lot. The doors open and hundreds of colorful fliers blow about in the wind like the Tibetan prayer flags in nearly every CC dorm room might if they were in their natural environment. These fliers invite the uninformed masses of our campus to fancy dinners, walks, concerts, drives, screenings, bake sales, T-shirt sales and bracelet sales, all for the purpose of “raising awareness” about a particular cause. 

But what does “raising awareness” even mean? It seems to entail telling everyone about a serious problem in our world and then stopping there. It’s as if some magical fairy (or Obama) is going to come and make everything better. Once everyone knows about the problem, it will go away! It’s practically foolproof! AIDS in Africa? Boom. Roasted. Environmental degradation? Clap if you believe! Bringing wolves to CC that are too domesticated to return to the wild totally, completely, 100 percent did not make us want to have one as a pet…

“Raising awareness” is so popular because everyone can put forth the minimum amount of effort but still feel like they’re helping. This phenomenon is not limited to CC; Americans everywhere are finding that throwing money at NGOs feels great (and the tax write-offs don’t hurt either). We can buy all the same merchandise, but by buying it in red, pink, or yellow, we are “making a difference.” 

So why has no one “raised awareness” about “raising awareness?” Because nobody wants to criticize a good-hearted individual trying to make improvements. That would be tantamount to shoving Bono down a flight of stairs (which is going to happen, “With or Without You”). Don’t get me wrong. I fully agree that making people more aware of major issues is a necessary and logical first step. But what happens once more people know about the problem you raise? Sometimes the newly enlightened choose to donate money. More often, nothing happens. 

We’ve all been there—when faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, we are unsure about where to begin. It’s a natural reaction; we sincerely want to help, but we don’t know how. So we “raise awareness” and hope that some policymaking messiah or prodigious trendsetter in our audience will come to the rescue. Maybe those guys in the white lab coats can fix our genes or prevent mutated cells from multiplying if we pay them enough. We wait anxiously for our above-average intellects and liberal arts educations to provide us with all the answers. I hope they can.