Where IS the outrage?

Admittedly, I haven't taught in any meccas of progressive thought. My teaching experience is limited to small, rural, relatively-to-abjectly poor working-class towns. I have a mere five years of teaching under my belt, but I've seen between 180 and 450 students a week. Most of these are between the ages of 6 and 12, but I see dozens of adolescents and teens as well.

This is going somewhere. Hang on.

With the exception of a few notables, there seems to be a dearth of passion for anything, except for experiences that mandate several degrees of separation, such as video games. I am hard-pressed to think of half a dozen students whose lives are consumed by anything. I know of maybe two students who truly commit to drawing and art, and one girl who is simply good at everything but chooses to commit herself to rodeo; I knew a handful of kids back East who committed themselves to athletics, and there's the token Nerd or Nerdess who runs on pure academics. But I see a trend in schools and communities in simply placating the student body and structuring everything around not rocking the boat.

I am not asking the world to take up arms against the System (though I know I actually should); I just want to see a little original thought and a flicker of light that lets me know that society at large is not dead inside. I saw a strange '80s pseudo-horror flick called The Stuff in which people discover, market, and consume this goop that tastes great but eats your insides, leaving a hollow shell. I think I was about twelve or so when I saw it, and that hollow deadness made so much sense to me. People ingested it without questioning its source or nutritional value, and those who bucked its popularity were pariahs. Actually, I know it was the ostracism that resounded within me; even as a preteen I felt a familiar twinge.

In just the last dozen years or so, however, I feel practically alone in my twinges. Those of you who twinge with me know who you are. Our numbers are shrinking, watered down by vicarious experience and mindless consumerism. Oh, the drugs we court: television, shopping, gaming, blogging...as with any drug, moderation won't destroy your life. But how many people do you know who blindly accept all that is shuttled to them via mass media and the endless advertising? Certainly I am preaching to the choir, but I need to see in print that I am consciously trying to make a difference in these kids' lives, or I may as well just hang it up.