I’m in a period where I’m straddling the vibrant optimism of being young and the cynicism that comes all too often with age. As my friends, family, co-workers, everyone I meet, get older, it seems that the passion behind certain ideals wanes–and understandably so. Party time is over. It’s all punch in, punch out, bring the car to the mechanic, do we have enough diapers or should I pick some up? Ok, those came out completely at random but you get the point. There are plenty of reasons to start thinking more about the technicalities of life rather than the bigger picture.

And that’s why I get it when people’s eyes start glaze over when I start talking about how the exorbitant profits pharmaceutical companies make isn’t ethical and increases differential access to health care. Hey–did I just see your eyes glaze over? I get it. There are enough things to think about without worrying about other people’s problems. That’s fine. But please, please don’t confuse that feeling with the feeling that tells you that optimism or being idealistic is a product of naivete and not the product of personal convictions based on sound ethics and principles.

I think, at some point, I started down that road toward cynicism. I started being convinced that I was being naive. That, yeah, it’d be nice if life were more fair–that people were rewarded for working hard but also that the opportunities to work hard were available to all–but can that ever really be achieved? Layton’s charisma was a reminder that–and I can’t think of a non-cliched way of saying this though I’m sure Jack would–we shouldn’t underestimate ourselves or our country. For a man who believed in justice and equality and who was all too aware of the injustices and inequalities some Canadians face, he remained forever optimistic that, if there is a place in the world that can achieve the kind of goals he had in mind, it was Canada. He embodied the fact that optimism isn’t naivete, quite the opposite, optimism is hope. It’s cynicism that is giving up.

And for that reason, it’s all to appropriate that Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians ended with a paragraph that I feel should be printed on our money or incorporated in our national anthem because they represent the best in Canadians:

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.