Cynicism is, I believe, the default worldview of many Americans. It is also, the laziest and, quite frankly, the most dangerous way to observe humans and human nature. It’s easy to see the actions of a few and extrapolate them across the entirety of mankind. However it’s also remarkably unhelpful.

Cynicism probably took off in this country in the mid-1970s as a result of the combination of the Watergate Scandal and the Pentagon Papers. Since that time, remarkably few of our nation’s presidents have been seen in anything but a cynical light. A plethora of scandals raging from the lewd and sexual to the financial and corrupt, coupled with the apparent placing of politics before national welfare has sunk Congress to the lowest approval rating in its long history. It is no wonder that a substantial majority of Americans feel our country is headed in the wrong direction.

Moreover, cynicism is sexy. Everyone wants to be a badass with nothing to lose. We love an anti-hero. We focus on Joker and his motivations instead of Batman and his. Cynicism is made even sexier by its close relationship with humor. A cynic armed with enough wit and charm is always the funniest and most entertaining person in the room. A well written and whip smart satire is, admittedly, one of the most humorous and brilliant mediums. Cynicism is especially appealing to college students, who have enough knowledge of the world and its people to see their many faults, but not enough experience to know how to look beyond them.

However, as my mother says, just because it’s easy doesn’t mean that it’s right. And being a cynic is easy. It’s easy to dismiss the hard work of others as mere ambition. It’s easy to find ulterior motives. It’s easy to see the bad in everyone.

It is far less easy to see the fundamentally human qualities in people. It is much harder to search out the good in people, to trust that while some are purely selfish beings, many if not most really and truly care about the welfare of others. The easy road is to look at the Republicans in Congress and think of them as corporate proxies, or at the Democrats and think of them as harbingers of some sort of Communist nightmare state. To deride your opponents as evil and “un-American” takes neither skill, nor effort. The far harder, yet infinitely more rewarding and constructive path, is to see that both sides have a genuine and deep desire to improve the nation. We are all human, trying desperately to do our best, and even the best among us are prone to error.

When Conan O’Brien ended his run at The Tonight Show he probably had more cause than most to turn cynical. His closing words were, however, anything but, and have proven to be some of the most inspiring I’ve ever heard: “And all I ask is one thing, and this is, I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch, please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you. Amazing things will happen.”

Finally, always remember that while we may not have come over on the same ship, but we are all in the same boat.

*Newman, Craig. “Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show farewell speech” (transcript).