Stay Positive

For the cynic who seeks change, the best thing you can do is try to stay positive. Do not mistake apathy for antipathy because in reality no one is on the other side of the fight against hunger, poverty and injustice. Just do your best to be the best example you can be.

Very few people respond to hostility. To scream at others in order to guilt them and create fear about social justice is futile. These militant styles pioneered by long-dead revolutionaries have no place in a modern setting. Effectively, these techniques alienate people who would otherwise be sympathetic to the cause creating no net change. They fill people with worry and hopelessness which they ultimately direct, or misdirect, as hatred toward the messenger instead of the issue.

This is why I have been making an effort to reframe the way I tackle world issues, especially around other people. While I occasionally maintain feelings of hostility towards the 'apathetic', social change cannot come from hostility. It must come from understanding and we should treat each other with respect and courtesy. Most importantly, we must keep a positive attitude, without it, where is our hope for success?

Critical analysis of the world around us, or more simply put 'cynicism', and optimism are not mutually exclusive, either. The difference between pessimistic cynicism, and optimistic cynicism is that the latter can actually produce positive social change. The world to come must be modelled on hope for a better future, not fear of a worse one.

Stay positive but don't give up the fight.