Cynic or Skeptic

by Jerry Bullock

OK, it is time to decide, are you a cynic or a skeptic? There is a difference, you know. A cynic sees the world out to get him or her and always sees disaster and ruin just around the corner. A skeptic questions the situation and asks the question, “Is this for real?” Of course, there are a lot of people who aren’t either. They are the ones who don’t know that the world really is out to get them and ask no questions when the con man reaches into their pocket. I recently found the Cynic’s Guide To Life:

  • The journey of a thousand miles begins with a squeaking fan belt and a leaky tire.
  • I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. And a foundation leaks and a ball game gets rained out and a car rusts and...
  • Follow your dream. Unless it's the one where you're at work in your underwear during a fire drill.
  • Always take time to stop and smell the roses... and sooner or later you'll inhale a bee.
  • Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead for I may not follow.
  • Do not walk beside me, either; just leave me alone.
  • If you don't like my driving, don't call anyone. Just take another road. That's why the highway department made so many of them.
  • It's always darkest before the dawn. So if you're going to steal the neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
  • Each day I try to enjoy something from each of the four food groups: the bon bon group, the salty-snack group, the caffeine group, and the 'thing-in-the-tinfoil-in-the-back-of-the-fridge' group.
  • Just remember... You gotta break some eggs to make a real mess on the neighbor's car.
In my opinion it is much better to be a skeptic than to be a cynic. If you go around looking for disaster you are bound to find it. C. S Lewis gave us the penultimate example of the cynic. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Secrets of the Silver Chair. we meet a character named Puddleglum, a Narnian Marshwiggle. A typical line from Puddleglum would go something like this, “There will probably be dragons. I wouldn’t doubt that it will rain and we will find ourselves in a flood. There will be giants, I know it, we don’t stand a chance.” I have written before about the uselessness of worry, the cynic takes worry to an extreme.

The skeptic, on the other hand, looks at the same situation and discerns the truth. Does it look like rain? No. Have there been any dragons or giants? No. so we have a job to do; let’s do it. Every day on the Internet I receive notice that I have won a free trip or the European lottery with a couple of million dollars waiting for me. Or a little old lady in Bangladesh wants me to help her steal several million dollars. None of these scams are true. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

But not always, I know a deal that will give you riches beyond your imagination. It is found in the Bible in John, chapter 3, verse 16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.

Have I got a deal for you!