The Roots of Cynicism

Hello, my dear classmates. Today..... Is it Monday again?! Time flies, does it not? Beginning again. Today, I ponder on the roots of what we call cynicism. I would like to start by saying that though I AM opinionated, I will keep this post somewhat neutral and mentally distinguished. Moving on. . . Alright, well first I'll start off by giving a correct and easily comprehensible definition: Cynicism- The belief that others act purely out of selfish motives. Quite an absolute wouldn't you think? To believe that no one acts selflessly in their lives, and every motive is purely self centered. I will display my thoughts on if it is right to be this way or wrong. But, first, I will give a few reasons why we arrive at this belief in the first place and explain them to the best of my ability. Well there is the best reason: I'm sure there's many of you who have been stabbed in the back by someone who you might have thought actually cared about you. He or she did something good or bad, used you in the process for their own gain, and left you with a terrible view of the world and it's motives. I mean, sure, there ARE a good many of us who could get over it once, but there are another good many of us who just couldn't let it go, and further more an even greater number who have been scarred by it happening again or repeated times. The next reason is a possible upbringing. You could have had this belief drilled into your head at a young age or even throughout your life. It's hard to block out something from a family member, especially your parents. This reason brings me to to say that input and influence in our lives can change us... But only if we allow it. Those two reasons are the only ones I have pondered at the moment, if you have anymore, please comment them with an explanation. Moving on. These reasons are often the roots of cynicism. Honestly how could they NOT be? I mean if you actually sit and think about it you can only come to one conclusion. Either you're mentally scarred into thinking it or influenced and taught to. Either way, it brings us to cynicism. Now is it necessarily wrong to be cynical? In excess yes. But many, many people DO act purely out of selfish motives, do things that only benefit themselves. So practicing a little cynicism practically equals caution, plain and simple. Now cynicism in excess, to believe that EVERYONE acts purely for themselves, is completely wrong. You should never be too trusting, but you SHOULD give trust where it's due and to those you think are worthy. I know for a fact that it takes time to earn trust and it's easily broken, for as many given things in our world, it is very fragile. So I say cynicism in the lowest degree is once again plainly caution. But an excess IS wrong. That's the best I can tell you.

Your friend, classmate, comrade, or whatever else you wish to call me (within reason),


P.S. I will be continuing Mus'ad's adventure Friday, thanks for reading, have a nice day.