W ... whaaaaat?!
As much as I’ve always enjoyed Conan O’Brien, I didn’t really pay much attention to the drama surrounding his brief time on The Tonight Show (my TV only plays Turbo Grafx). I followed the news just enough to love Conan a little more, all while shaking my head at the apparent worsening state of the world.
Today I read this great article about Conan’s farewell speech (Maisonneuve). Then I watched the speech (Vimeo). And then I read the article again.
Conan’s rally to end cynicism deeply resonated with me. I haven’t felt this way in some time.
It’s easy to be cynical. One can simply criticize everything without ever having to stand by anything. Easy maybe, but what kind of dark pit of world would if be if there weren’t any hopeful dreamers?
Maybe the state of the world isn’t worsening at all– just my view of it. Maybe it’s okay to dream of achieving seemingly-impossible things! Maybe all the awfulness in the world will get a little better if we all work a little harder rather than just complaining and awaiting the failure of everything. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of the evening drawing swell pictures of unicorns!*
So here’s to hope, hard work, and all that good stuff. Rest in Peace cynicism, you’re not cool anymore. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you were never cool in the first place.
*But not really because a certain editor will wonder why I’m not working on my super-important assignment for the next print issue of Prairie Dog.
