> Cynics and pessimists are a quite similar breed, however. Some animals, when cornered, fight to the death. Other animals roll over, resigned to their fate. The cynic, early in life, does not get the answers he wishes. The pessimist, too, realizes that the life he wants will not be handed to him. Both find themselves too weak or too cowardly to press on, despite these initial setbacks, and they then play the next logical role: that of the perpetual naysayer. This way nothing can hurt them. They know nothing, so their knowledge is safe and secure from refutation. They want nothing, therefore their desire is never thwarted. They hate nothing, and therefore can never be attacked and overpowered by an enemy. They love nothing, and are thus never in fear of losing their beloved, losing hope. So afraid of life, they cease living, and derive their power from the blanket criticism of all things – and yet they do not die, do they? They continue to eat and breathe, a hero and sage in their own minds. They are like a child who quits a game of checkers after losing the first two pieces. The only reason I write of them here and now is because I have this tendency in myself and am sympathetic to it, though I have no patience for it. There is room for these people in life, perhaps, but not in magic. Cynics never question their cynicism and pessimists never sour of their ennui. They are best left to their mud pond – at least when they look in the muddy pool, the reflection is somewhat undistorted. You need not worry about these things, however. You have a sky to see – blue changing into black.