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Transcript

Cynics Don't Change the World · The Daily Writer

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: These lessons are inspired by great artists, authors, and thinkers, both past and present.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Every period in history seems like the worst for people going through it.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: 2020 has certainly been a challenging year on many levels.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're still in the middle of a global pandemic, we had a bitter election here in the US, the economy has been in complete upheaval, a lot of people have lost their jobs, and the list goes on and on and on.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: One look at your social media feed or any news channel will immediately tell you that people are upset and they're hurting.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's a sense of frustration and anger that we've never seen before in our lifetimes.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in this kind of situation, it's natural to feel angry or frustrated.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And why not?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what everybody else is doing.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to let yourself slip into a cynical attitude about life.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: A cynic is a person who assumes the worst about everyone.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: They believe everybody else acts out of self-interest, and any appearance of good behavior or generosity is just some ploy or it's some scheme for somebody to get whatever it is that they want.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of entertainment is based on this notion of human behavior.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: For example, the most popular sitcom of all time, Seinfeld, was based on a pessimistic view of human nature.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the mantra of the show was that no characters would ever grow or learn anything.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's fun to watch on TV, but it doesn't really work in real life.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible to be in a committed, loving relationship and be a constant cynic.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: You also can't be a consistent positive influence in somebody's life if you only ever believe the worst about people.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: The great author F.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Scott Fitzgerald once said, the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's true, this is a dark time in history where we have a few more crises than usual.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: But don't give in to the negative attitudes like everybody around you probably is.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: This period we're in right now may seem hopeless, but as writers and creatives, we are part of the solution.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: We must not be part of the problem.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The pessimists and the cynics may have their moment in the sun, but in the end, cynics don't change the world.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hope wins every single time.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed this.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more at DailyRiderLife.com.