Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-07-15 | Page 13 | Cynicism Dooms Progress

I Cynicism Dooms Progress T ERNEST JRNEST BOYD writes a spirited defense of iI cynicism in the current issue of Harpers Harper's magazine The cynic he says is the man who by sad ad experience has peen leen disillusioned about hum human n nature He does not expect top much indeed he usually expects the worst since he knows that is what mankind so often produces Thus he is seldom or never disappointed dis dis- appointed Life does not continually jar hint him This believes Mr Boyd is an enviable state The cynic as lie he sees him is not a bitter bitter bit bit- ter discouraged person he is one whose enjoyment enjoyment en- en of life is all the greater because lie he heis lieis is too wise to look for more than lie he will get Probably this is all very true Yet the world orld cannot do with too many cynics Especially Espe- Espe it cannot do with them in the high places Its great reat need is is' for people who dare to expect the best not the worst people who can can retain a deep faith in human nature in spite of Chicago gang wars Philadelphia I manes New York night clubs d aT Hollywood publicity For faith after all can an move mountains It is a lie that we cannot lift ourselves by our our own bootstraps We have been doing It for many centuries and we must continue to todo do it Cynicism is a fine armor for the man vho ho does not dare face the unpleasant shocks I of life life- but it is next to useless for the big jobs jos of the world Idealism preferably of the impractical visionary kind is what is needed If you do not expect too much of human nature you will never ask too much of it And it is the great the askers men and women who demand that their fellows transcend tran tran- their limitations of selfishness blindness and timidity that push the world forward Cynicism would have helped Washington endure his squabbles with the Continental congress congress con con- gress the grasping Tory traders and the self self- seeking army officers with much more corn com fort It would have made Valley Forge more bearable But it would not have won the Revolution That took visionary idealism that could persist in spite of plain common sense Likewise a cynical Lincoln would have h.- h. been happier than the gaunt idealist who occupied the White House fr from m 1861 to toJ J happier and less successful For the J orld somehow dos does not respond t to cynic cynic- is m. m It demands Ideals even If It flouts th m. m Seeing as through h a glass darkly it nev can reco recognize nize that which is higher high high- er tan jan itself and in the fullness of time it f ollow If Tl 71 lIS IS e especially true In a democracy I like ours To the cynic the problems of democracy are insoluble They call for an impossible improvement in human nature Yet they will be solved in time solved because because be- be cause there will be from time to time Lin- Lin coIns who dare appeal to their fellows to do doII dothe II the imp impossible