Watched “27 Dresses” tonight with a friend. Good movie — predictable, but fun! In it, the male protagonist is a writer dedicated to the “commitments” (weddings) section of a paper. But he himself is very down on the institution of marriage. In one scene, the female protagonist makes a comment something like, “Are you a hopeless romantic, playing the role of the cynic, or are you a cynic simply throwing around BS to make a living?” She implies that it’s easy being a cynic.
I hear that all the time. “It’s easier to be cynical than to make a difference.” Blah, blah, blah. Truth be told, being a cynic is very hard work. See, I think that most of us want to believe in something — someone. I think our very nature is to seek out the good in the people and things around us. We want to feel loved, accepted, desired … safe. But unfortunately, those feelings are fleeting (I don’t care what televangelists say). Most of us live our lives teetering either on the edge of stupidity, or cynicism.
See, being stupid is easy. It’s believe what you see, never questioning, never thinking there could be more than what your limited vision sees. Being cynical, however, takes into consideration all the possibilities, and draws upon the hopelessness of a vast number of things. Being stupid is being happy in whatever reality you have created for yourself. Being cynical, you must determine that your own reality is as full of crap as the next person’s, and still live with yourself day in and day out.
Being cynical takes time and practice, trust me. Even the best cynic somewhere, deep inside themselves, is holding out hope. Hope that what they perceive as “the world” will be proved wrong by one person or one situation that truly plays itself out the way it should. Hope that the early optimism that blanketed them at some point in their life will return in all its glory. Hope that they are as full of it as they think everyone else is, and that the raging cynic will be just another phase, passing like puberty, acne, and bad taste in movies.
So the next time you hear (or think) that cynicism is a walk in the park, and that someone dabbling (or drowning) in it is “taking the easy way,” check yourself. Cynacism at best is a cleverly crafted tool by which one who fears to hope can survive. At it’s worst, it’s simply someone pretending not to be stupid. Either way, it’s just not that easy. I know.
