It seems as if the world is flooded with people who care about everything.
They care about themselves, about politics, about their neighbors, about their hobbies, about their reputation, about their fitness goals, about their family, about the dreams they say they are chasing.
Care everywhere.
Opinions everywhere.
Engagement everywhere.
But how much of that is even real?
Some of it is surely held with genuine care. There are things people love, protect, nurture. There are causes that truly move them. Relationships that genuinely matter. Work they would still do even if nobody ever noticed.
But most of it is signaling.
Not always consciously.
Not always cynically.
But signaling nonetheless.
When it comes down to it, people care about very few things.
Truly few. A handful at most.
Yet those few things branch out into a thousand secondary concerns. Appearances. Affiliations. Positions. Symbols that communicate what kind of person you are supposed to be.
And the biggest culprit, sitting beneath it all,
