Cynics, the lot of you! And it ain’t right

In line at the Real ID Super Center in downtown Chicago. Photo: Gerald Farinas.

I hate how cynical people have become.

And who can blame them?

We’ve watched the slow and steady erosion of trust in the very pillars that once held our society upright—educators who shaped minds, physicians who healed without agenda, statesmen who once stood for principle over party, guardians of community who protected without prejudice, and institutions of faith and reason that once pointed us toward higher purpose and Truth with a capital T.

Now?

Every classroom feels politicized. Every hospital visit comes with skepticism. Every election cycle chips away at whatever hope we still have in democracy. Every pulpit and university lecture hall risks being seen as either corrupted or irrelevant. And worst of all, we don’t even agree on what truth is anymore. We’ve become a society where facts are negotiable and trust is naïve.

What have we become?

A people hungry for meaning but fed on misinformation. A society desperate for connection but taught to distrust everyone—especially those who once were leaders and guides. Somewhere along the way, we let suspicion become our common language.

When did this happen?

Not overnight. It happened in a thousand cuts—scandals, betrayals, disillusionments—some real, some exaggerated by fear-mongering voices that thrive on chaos. It happened when profit replaced purpose and when power became the goal instead of the means to justice.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

We must start rebuilding—not just our institutions, but the relationships underneath them.

I know it sounds hokey, but we need to hold our leaders accountable and believe that leadership still matters.

We must demand integrity from those with authority, and choose to give trust when it’s earned.

We need to stop celebrating cynicism as wisdom and start seeing hope as an act of defiance.

Change comes when we, as individuals and communities, choose not to accept the erosion of truth as inevitable.

It comes when we live and lead with courage, humility, and a fierce belief that the world can still be good—if we make it so.

We cannot afford to stay this cynical. Not if we want anything worth passing on.