A Cynical Optimist

Today's title is the phrase a coworker used to describe me once; actually he said that I was the most cynical optimist he'd ever met, and something along the lines of not knowing that combination was possible. The reason for this description is my ceaseless hope and desire that people are somehow inherently good and they will act accordingly, coupled with my deep-seated belief that they aren't and won't. An example is celebrity marriages - for even the most impulsive and bizarre seeming matches, I fervently hope that the marriage will work out. Even Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, when everyone was guessing the number of months (or days) before the inevitable divorce, I said things like "Maybe they both have had such strange lives that they actually somehow understand each other." And even though I have such a hopeful outlook for the unions, I'm never surprised when they don't work out. Sad, but not surprised. When you hear the stories of people who are suing over something ridiculous, tells of corruption, crimes, stupidity, I'm never shocked - just disappointed. I have faith in the human race's ability to be good, I just don't expect them to use it anytime soon.