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I think this will be the last post about indifference for a while, but you can tell the impact its discovery has made on my life. Please see January 23 for the first in the series and a definition. 

My friend Bill (not his real name), retired after 28 years in the Air Force, and now teaching at the Air Force Academy epitomizes contentment that we’re both realizing comes from holy indifference.

Bill is a smart guy, he has the same earned doctorate in education that I have, and has strong opinions about, for example, the way a course he’s teaching should be run. But at the moment, he’s not in a position to do anything except do as he’s told. For sure, he appropriately makes his concerns known, and often, changes get made eventually.

But in the meantime, Bill practices the following philosophy which he’s shared with me in the context of many stories spanning his career: “If the commander wants something done a certain way, and it’s not illegal, immoral, or unsafe, then I’ll do it.” That’s indifference!

Bill is a very successful guy by any measure, but by his own admission, he is not overly ambitious, he doesn’t need to make more money than he does (and he’s been up and down a bit since his retirement from the Air Force). His priority is his wife and adult children. His work is excellent; for example, when he teaches, he cares about the students as individuals. (I met an Air Force Academy senior who told me that Bill was the first teacher that treated her like a human being.) So he definitely doesn’t have an “I don’t care” attitude. But he is indifferent…to success, to methods, to practically everything that doesn’t directly affect his loving God and loving people. 

Bill lives out the indifference that Paul wrote about, the text we opened these short essays on indifference with:

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4.11 – 13)