You’re talking to a group of friends and you are just starting to tell a funny story of what happened to you at the store yesterday and you are suddenly interrupted by a monotone “I don’t care”. People are doing this to their friends and fellow students all the time. They have such a lack of interest in their peers that they can’t even be bothered to listen to a simple story.

We as young adults need to break this habit and start caring about what others say and do. You may think that you are not interested in whatever story or fact someone wants to tell you but it could surprise you that you can learn a lot. When someone wants to tell you things about their life they are showing that they want you to know them better or that they think that you would find sympathy or humor in their experience. This also shows a sign of trust and you should respect their trust in you since you obviously did something to obtain it.

If you take just a moment to listen to someone it could make their day. They probably run into “I don’t care” and “go away” statements all the time but you could be different; you could show them the little bit of interest that they deserve.

Just remember that when you want to share something that you want to be listened to. You want people to care. But so does everyone else. Next time you feel like you want to just walk away or ignore the person talking to you remember that there is so much you can take away from that little story or that one joke. Patriots, I ask you to start caring: to show that you can be better than “I don’t care”.