Cynicism. We all possess a bit of it. Some show it, others keep quiet. Thanks to social media, we can now do the former without much accountability. Cynicism is tricky because it's rooted in a milieu of reasons, from one's innate response to past experiences to societal influences to insecurities.
Cynicism, to a certain degree, is healthy to have. For all intensive purposes, I'll equate this healthy level of cynicism to discernment, which involves pulling in wisdom to the doubt that we respond with in whatever we see, hear, or feel. It's a protective measure against all the voices that tell us how the world is and how we should interpret it.
Lately, I find myself reading any article or hearing any conversation or attending any public event with a frame of cynicism. It does, after all, take very little effort to be cynical. And it also can make us feel like we have an opinion about something when we really don't know what to think, or it allows us to blindly go against the status quo when we really just want to be heard, or it can just make us feel like we're important - that we have an opinion, that we have something to stand against, that we have a right to defend, that we have a cause to pursue.
I think it's increasingly important to take into consideration where our cynicism comes from when we find ourselves blindly responding with it. But then again, who am I that you should listen to me?
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