An Antitoxin for Cynicism

We live in an age of cynicism. Skepticism, suspicion, mistrust, disenchantment pervade society. Bias favors the powerful. Money tilts the scales of justice. Lies are redefined as carelessness. Deviants are called heroes. Police are stalked by killers.  Mindless chants encourage violence. Deserters receive Rose Garden praises. Our warriors are denied health care while VA officials keep their jobs. The IRS squelches public protest. Excuses replace responsibilities. Promised transparency becomes muddied by blame.

Cynicism is a deadly social virus that corrupts virtue. Anything that increases cynicism damages fairness and honesty. Cynicism undermines the civil will and spreads social despair. It makes honest and sincere people feel like suckers and stooges. It causes trusting people to look clueless.

Is there a remedy for cynicism? Yes. Think ripples. The stone's ripple may dissipate but it creates change in the area it was tossed. Our influence makes a difference.

Wholesome behavior retards social sickness. For healthy living let's culture these antitoxins for cynicism:

• Read the scriptures to inspire decency:
• Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8
• Pray:
• Adoring God's eternal grace
• Confessing and requesting forgiveness for our errors and sins
• Giving thanks for our blessings
• Asking for an ethical, principled, loving and peaceful world. 
• Consider the importance of our actions, even the most trivial. 
• Taking a paperclip from the office is a trivial event, but what if 7,435,155,823 people took a paperclip? 
• (BTW: To increase your humility go to the internet's world population clock. You'll be amazed at the increase in numbers.)
•  Defend our convictions. 
• Speak-up and speak-out for virtuous living and high moral standards. 
• Spread goodwill by considering Albert Schweitzer's suggestion:
• Our greatest mistake, as individuals, is that we walk through our life with closed eyes and do not notice our chances. As soon as we open our eyes and deliberately search we see many who need help, not in big things but in the littlest things. Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.
• Live with humility before God's creation. 
• Consider a boy digging a hole in the seaside sand, filling a bucket at the edge of the ocean and emptying the water into the hole again and again. Believing that the boy will empty the waters of the sea into the hole is no different from attempting to comprehend the mysteries of God.
• Wherever you are, be there. 
• Long ago our 14-year old daughter, Wende, came into the study where I was reading Sports Illustrated telling me of a boy she had met. Without looking up I replied, "Hmm, that's nice." Wende gave me the stare that parents with teen-agers recognize as a universal sign of disrespect retorting, "Dad, you get after me for not talking to you. Maybe I never talk to you because you never listen." 
• Let's listen, really listen: To our children, to our wives and husbands, to our friends and associates. Listening signals respect. It builds alliances, enhances trust and restores civil behavior.