Escaping Cynicism

“There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.” Mark Twain

Today’s wit is a cynicism against the possibilities of tomorrow. Irony and sarcasm permeate British humour, but more and more so stretch to infect our outlook on individual and collective possibility. I too am guilty of succumbing to an indifference to the movements of society, given our constant failure to address our environmental shortcomings or social responsibilities.

But recently, fleeting conversation with a passing stranger reignited my lost optimism. An American teenager full of wonder at new encounters, openness to the future and a belief in endless possibility reminded me of myself at her age. I too at seventeen had an open belief for a brave new world, driving me to explore new cultures, aiming for the betterment of human kind. Books fed this craving, and a battered copy of Alex Garland’s The Beach remains testament to this desire.

   

This morning, curiosity at the flaking pages and the broken spine got the better of me. I reached to take the book down from its shelf, opening it to release grains of sands from another time trapped in its creases. Before even reading the first words, the sand had taken me back to the time and place of its last reading. To my very own beach, where at seventeen I too felt that I had reached Utopia, where the surf of South China Sea lapped at my heart.

Like in the novel, paradise is quick lost, and a return to that same beach a few years later revealed a growth in number, an entrenchment of globalised culture. Plastic parasols and concrete construction confirmed my maturing pessimism. A return to the familiar then, to be surrounded by ambitionless apathy.

It is hard to find solace in the movements of a society, especially now that our globalised gathering of 7 billion seems so connected, whilst alienated at same time. Rather than reaching out across social media networks, my flame of optimism is fanned by face to face contact, even if through the lens of a webcam. It is the warmth of human contact which reignites my optimism, whether from a tube worker walking me to a destination, or a homeless man sharing his cigarettes with our wine. If a selfless stranger is open to others, then what is to stop an original idea taking root? Cynicism suppresses creativity, optimism generates opportunities.