My Battle with Cynicism

“I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical.”

- Robert A. Heinlein

“You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting.”

- Also Robert A. Heinlein, from “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long”

My professional life has been, in one sense, a struggle to win the battle against cynicism. After nearly forty years in the law, I have seen justice and injustice, not necessarily in equal measures. Sometimes I feel like the struggle can’t be won. But, the fight matters.  Cynicism feels like capitulation. Tempting as it is when I feel overwhelmed in a case, or overmatched by greater resources, I don’t ever want to give in to it.

The modern definition of cynicism is an “inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest.” 

Surely humans are more complicated than that. 

I have heard that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.  And working together for a common goal, on a case or otherwise, doesn’t feel like pure self-interest.  There are so many examples of people providing food for the poor, justice for the disenfranchised, support for the arts, and so much more. I simply can’t believe that all people are motivated in all their life’s pursuits by pure self-interest.

Doing what we do as lawyers, we have an obligation to pursue the interests of our clients.  But we also have a higher duty to the law and society to not pursue those interests at all costs, in breach of the rule of law and ethics. Navigating those sometimes-competing duties makes what we do hard. We work on things that affect more than just our client’s case-at-hand. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way we think it ought to. Cynicism might be the easier road in the end.

But, isn’t it, as the Beatles sang, “the fool who plays it cool, by making his world a little colder”?

As Thanksgiving approaches, take a look at what is going right. Show the world (and yourself, battle-weary practitioners) a little grace. We face seemingly insurmountable challenges pursuing justice in an adversarial system. I choose to believe that we, together, can make it work, and it is the decision to fight everyday against cynicism that matters.