The Jeopardies of Unconcerned Nonchalance

1. The title of this blog entry is my rendition of the original title "The Perils of Indifference".

2. The events in "The Lottery" are shockingly similar to the unspeakable horrors of the Rwandan genocide. Just as the villagers refused to protest the lottery because it was an ancient tradition, so the people of the world denied that there was a genocide happening in Rwanda. And, like the villagers who refused for so many years to abolish the lottery, the world leaders did nothing for most of the duration of the Rwandan genocide. While the people in both situations were indifferent to the suffering around them, the deaths caused by their inactivity grew in numbers. Although there was eventually an end to the terrible genocide in Rwanda, there is no way of knowing if the villagers in "The Lottery" ever decided to abandon their senselessly violent tradition.

3. The words of Elie Wiesel relate to Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery". The people who lived in that small village would have done well to heed Weisel's warnings about indifference. It appears, however, that they can not escape its seduction - after all, it is so much easier to cast stones with the multitude than stand with the damned. For them, indifference is a way of life. Their neighbors, to them, "are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless." This is due in part to the fact that every year, for as long as they can remember, every person in their village participated in the lottery and, although they dreaded it, the villagers still allowed it to happen each year.