My friend, Travis Mamone, commented on my Conan’s last show quote, “If I’m not cynical, then what am I supposed to be instead?” He meant it in jest, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s question of our time, our age, our generation.
Make no mistake. Cynicism feels good and gets the laugh. I know I’ve cashed more than my fair share. Yet at the end of the day, it’s still a cheap response. It doesn’t cost us anything. Cynicism is easy. Doesn’t require involvement. Cynicism doesn’t have to hunt for a solution, sacrifice, or compromise. Cynicism doesn’t have to love. Doesn’t have to hope. Doesn’t require faith.
Cynicism is a fast, easy response to complex issues and institutions.
Cynicism is good at making friends. It loves Disengagement. It cohabitates with Apathy. It’s best friends with Smug.
Yet I can’t help but wonder if we couldn’t get so much more done if we kicked Cynicism to the curb (even as he yells, “No way!”). How would our lives be different? How would our communities be different? How would our world be different?
What if each of us were bold enough to say “no” to Cynicism in just one thought-process of our lives?
What if instead of thinking, “There’s no way he or she will change!”, we began to pray and hope and love and live for something different? What if instead of concluding, “Why bother?”, we began seeing ourselves as the portal to possibility?
What if?
It has the power to hush the voice, the very presence of Cynicism and usher us into a new day.
*Photo courtesy of here
Cool, thanks for the shout-out! I never thought my sarcasm could actually inspire some one to think.
I’ve actually written about snarkiness and cynicism on my blog in the past. From my experience, a little eye roll and witty remark isn’t bad. But when it’s too much you end up sounding crotchety.
I wonder if SIN-I-CISM is a precursor to deception (particularly when it involves attitudes about the Church).
Don’t know if you’ve read any of Dorothy L. Sayers’ theological essays, but her definition of the sin of “sloth” in “The Other Six Deadly Sins” is very similar to your thoughts on Cynicism. She writes, “It is the sin that believes in nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive only because there is nothing it would die for.”
Great quote….Thanks for posting this!
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