Getting your hands dirty

"I wash my hands of this."
What does that mean?
Generally, I suppose, it means getting rid of some situation or removing ourselves from an environment we no longer want to look back on.
How realistic is that, really?
It's sort of sociopathic if you ask me. We just turn off all emotion to the subject in hand ( nice pun, huh?). We make a conscious choice to no longer empathize with a person or a cause. That, or it is a way we justify not taking action or expending further thought on a matter we find too troublesome or too taxing. We want to think we are good people. So, in order to assure ourselves of such, we say we "wash" all of the troubles away. We can remind ourselves (others) how hard we really did try...how much of a burden it was for us to even offer our help or input to begin with. The "dirt" on our hands changes into a monument of our efforts and one made for all to see.
After we wash, we end up looking pretty good in the end...even pious. Nice move.
We can then say, "Nope, I quit," or "This is too tough," or "This has gotten boring," without actually verbalizing it.
Think about it, though. Is that how descent people act? If there is a wrong committed or an untruth being pronounced (in word or action), shouldn't we continue to do something? Shouldn't we continue to try? Untruth equates (in most cases) to injustice. By its nature, Injustice is always wrong and should always be confronted.
What if the civil rights leaders (black and white) said, "Boy, this whole equality thing is just too tough a road to travel."
How different would the world be now?
What if America washed our collective hands and said, "That Hitler guy is going to put up quite a fight. Let him do whatever he wants in Europe, we'll deal with him later."
It's unthinkable.

The truth gets frustrating at times, either because people don't want to hear it or they think the cost will be to high.
This is what I say...if you are going to wash your hands of a situation anyway, why not put a little more dirt on them before you go to scrub? Why not make sure there really is dirt on them?
If a mechanic works on a car, his hands get dirty. He may stop to go wash his hands, but he doesn't just leave the car there to fix itself. At some point (if he is a good mechanic) he goes back to it. He gets his hands dirty again...and again...until it is working properly.
We should look at Injustice the same way he does the car...keep going until it is righted.
Americans are washing their hands of each other. We are becoming more and more galvanized (polarized) to ideas, yet at the same time, losing empathy for our brothers. We are saying it is too tough to envision what another is thinking or refusing to even try to understand. Resentment is not only brewing, it is boiling over.
Many think we should find a way to "all get along."
While the idea may seem noble, it is absurd.
It doesn't seem humans were made for such a fate. We were created for confrontation in some form or another. We were designed to disagree...hence Free Will.
But...
What we can do, is keep getting our hands dirty, continue to interact with others, continue to fight Injustice (however we see it). In the process and through exchanges, we will all be fighting for Truth no matter how we approach it.