A CHAT WITH TRUTH AND SALVAGE CO.'S WALKER YOUNG

The medical journals and your textbooks should be rewritten, because at this very second there is a silent plague that is sweeping across the nation. Break out your gas masks and start panicking; the apathy plague is sweeping the nation! Lock your doors; keep your children close! This disease is highly contagious and you may be infected and not even know it…

With all humor aside, apathy is the one thing that everyone nowadays is suffering from. Getting off the couch and contributing to the community, let alone social activism is now a Herculean task – wait, scratch that, an impossible task for most people.

"It upsets me that we're still in war and that we're still not paying attention to people that are starving and people in the streets," says Walker Young of the band Truth and Salvage Company, a band that's a unique mix of… uniqueness (for lack of a better word).

Walker grew up listening to Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, which influenced him to write social conscious music that was more than something for the ears to listen to. "People back in those times were speaking and using music to say something more than just love songs, and using music in a way that could change people's perspectives…" he explains. It is music – good music, I might add, that is the remedy to our apathy. As Walker puts it: "Music is a good medium because people come and they let their guards down, and are not only influenced by the song and the lyrics but they're influenced by the chords and the changes and the melodies they hear within the music."

What can the strong souls who haven't caught the plague do? There is still hope out there to reverse the damage done. Speak up. Get your tennis club buddy thinking about the detrimental effects of global warming, or even the girl-that-you-can't-remember-her-name to start thinking about her spending habits and what could happen to them if the federal deficit keeps increasing the way it is today. (Yes, that Juicy Couture purse that you've always wanted might get a little pricier than you thought.)

For bonus points, get your grandparents involved in this. Even though they may be old-fashioned, they're still people, and people do change -- mostly for the better. All you have to do is try, and even Walker says, "The more we do as young people, the more they see; the more they respect."www.skyrocketlove.com.