Walk into any bookstore these days, and what do you see? About half an acre of "inspirational" works: self-help manuals, guides to life, motivational books and books-on-tape-the literature of uplift.
Who are the "authors" of these molehills that make up a mountain? Doodlers with a knack for sugar-coating, for assuring us this is the best of all possible worlds, that man is the pinnacle of God's creation and that each and every one of us is endowed with touch of the divine, not to mention a generous helping of genius just waiting to be tapped.
Every age gets the philosophy it deserves. Ours is one that can be summed up in an advertising jingle: Feel good about yourself.
About 120 years ago, Ambrose Bierce, known today mainly for his Devil's Dictionary and as the hero portrayed wholly inaccurately by Gregory Peck in The Old Gringo, wrote a regular newspaper column in The San Francisco Examiner. America in the 1890s was, in some respects, much like it is today: on the brink of a new millennium, it was struggling with the idea of freedom-wildly optimistic on the one hand, terribly insecure on the other.
Bierce, who had a low opinion of hu5B4manity in general, had his own view of freedom. He thought most Americans unfit for it.
"I don't believe in the greatest good to the greatest number," he wrote. "I believe in the greatest good to the best men. And I would sacrifice a hundred incapable men to elevate one really great man."
Every age also gets the cynics it deserves. Ours has Andy Rooney, the Lovable Grouch ("Have you ever listened to cell-phone conversations?...")
The United States today is the Land of Importunity, obsessed with the Self. It is a place inhospitable to genuine cynics.
The true cynic refuses to place too great a value on anything, his own person included. He is not at home in this republic, which flies the flag of Self-Esteem. He is a stranger to the society of family values, forced geniality, compulsory inoffensiveness.
The Cynic's Creed goes something like this:
1) Put your faith in man. You can be sure that, sooner or later, he'll let you down. A corollary to this is:
2) Don't believe anyone, or anything, you hear without sufficient evidence. Depend upon facts, not emotions. And furthermore:
3) Avoid experts at all costs. Keep in mind that no one knows much about anything.
4) Face facts, however disheartening. Strive to look life squarely in the face. As Bierce wrote, try to "see things as they are, not as they ought to be."
5) Respect your limitations. Consider the possibility that you might564 not be the apple of some god's eye. Humbly admit that, contrary to popular sentiment, you cannot do, or be, anything you want. Even a milking-cow knows it cannot climb the Matterhorn.
6) Finally, don't worry about your self-esteem. You are as insignificant as anyone else.
I'm a writer living near Nashville, and maybe the only one within a 50-mile radius who's never written a song. Writing fiction is my preference, but journalism provides my daily bread. I'm from the Clark Kent school of journalism -- I never carry a pad to take notes, but rely on my super-memory. Actually, in my stories I make up quotes, making people sound more interesting and well-spoken than they are, so they never object. You know how Truman Capote ("In Cold Blood") gave birth to the "non-fiction novel?" I'm working on popularizing the "fictional news" story.
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