Cynicism - the (new) American pasttime

I was going to post this on my 'humorous' site, "The Numbsung Hero," but after thinking about it, realized it' not really that funny. In fact, it is more sad than anything else. I have noticed lately that any time I send an email out about some new proposal or some new idea that is being tossed around, almost everyone comes back with some form of negative response, basically something like, "oh, that will never happen." The latest example was an email I sent out about a gov't study being funded to determine the feasibility of developing a bullet train between Las Vegas and Phoenix. I thought this was kind of exciting, and something worth checking out.

But instead of excitement, most of the replies I got were things like I wrote above - it will never happen, not in our lifetime, blah blah blah. At first, I wanted to get angry at "those" people, and stand in righteous judgment saying "THEY are so cynical and negative - how dare they!" But then I started thinking about my views on politics... on the nature of manangement at my company, and in America in general... about the division of wealth between the poorest and the richest. And suddenly, I realized that what really irks me about all these people is that they reflect a part of me that I don't like - that part that is so cynical and jaded that it sees no hope of change - ever. Looking at this, I wonder I many people think that I am one of those negative, cynical people they would rather not talk or listen to about certain things.

I think this is one of the clearest examples I have ever experienced in my own life of that principle that basically says "you spot it, you got it;" that those things we see in others that really irrirate us are those things in ourselves that we don't like. Knowing that, I think I am going to make a concentrated effort to not be cynical anymore - or at least not outwardly. I don't want to foster hopelessness, even if that is what I am thinking about something inside. I want to be someone who sees the positive, and who believes that there is always hope, and who speaks and acts in a manner that demonstrates that. That's who I want to be.

So from today forward, I pledge to make a conscious effort to be more positive about every subject - even those that I have viewed so negatively for so long, like politics. And I can practice the old practice of not saying anything unless I have something nice to say. Maybe I can't change the entire world; maybe I can't stop hunger, war, or hatred; maybe I can't change the way politics are practiced. But what I can do is change the way I present myself to the world and the energy I exude. Yep, that I can do. And I am going to, starting right now : )