On Cynicism: I wonder which father I'm going to be

http://www.antoniomarchetti.it/immagini/cynicism.JPG

Pain and suffering has a purpose: to get us to move towards the light. A "living hell" is living far from the light. abberantepistle writes frankly about his life in a long post from which I have excerpted two brief paragraphs. -gw

One of the other things mentioned in our late-night discussion was my apparent depression. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) the number of ambulatory care visits to health care providers regarding depression in the year 2004 was 21,000,000. It also makes mention of some 10,403,000 prescriptions in 2005 for anti-depressant medications. That's more people than practice the Baha'i faith, and those guys give out balloons at the county fair.
...
Now that I'm a father, I wonder which father I'm going to be. I've been assured by some that the birth and parenting of a child gives you hope for a brighter future and a sparkly outlook on the way things might turn out. Conversely I wonder ...what I've gotten my poor, innocent baby into. And I definitely want him growing up with a healthy sense of skepticism about anyone who has a rosy... viewpoint. I don't want him cynical either. Cynicism given here to mean "An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others." Even if it might be a very realistic view, I'd rather he ended up one of those people that possess that sickening optimism that makes me want to whack them with a mallet.

abberantepistle, "Repression, Ruffles, Remorse," Incoherent Ramblings of a College Dropout