Editorial July 22, 1996 Issue

Cynicism debilitates; truth elevates

William E. Moody

Cynicism is popular. To be a realist you have to be a cynic—that is, if we were to believe the cynics and their press agents. But maybe cynicism has become too popular, the way a disease can become too popular, with something of the same debilitating effects. And maybe cynicism doesn't actually have anything to do with maintaining a realistic view of life after all.

When a new disease comes on the scene, it can quickly grab public attention. The media report on it graphically, and often. Public thought may become captured by the images. People can become frightened, excited, unwittingly predisposed to becoming ill; and the disease then seems to be carried along by the very popularity it receives.

The same kind of thing can happen with negative attitudes—with pessimism, discouragement, prejudice, cynicism. They would catch people up, like a contagion. But many people are fighting back against the current onslaught of the professional and full-time cynics. They are refusing to catch the illness or become its victim. Why? Because they've seen that cynicism clearly isn't healthy for one's own life or for society.

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Testimony of Healing
As a child, I was faithfully taken to a Christian Science Sunday School
July 22, 1996
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