Can Cynicism and Hope Coexist?

I have heard cynicism described as a way of looking at the world that focuses so exclusively on the negative that you become resigned to the way things are.  I have seen this attitude growing more and more lately. As I have been reading a biography about Dietrich Bonhoeffer I thought, if anyone would have an excuse for being a cynic it would be him. However, instead of being a cynic he was a man who had a living hope.

Bonhoeffer was a humble man of faith who was not willing to accept the pessimistic view that he had to resign himself to the way things are. Instead, "Bonhoeffer gives witness to one man's extraordinary faith and to the tortured fate of a nation he sought to deliver form the curse of Nazism."[Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas] Bonhoeffer's words were not the words of a cynic but instead, of a man who possessed a living hope, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to act is to act."

On the day Bonhoeffer died he held a small service where he was being held prisoner and preached form 1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." A man who was imprisoned with Bonhoeffer described what happened next: He had hardly finished his last prayer when the door opened and two evil -looking men in civilian clothes came in and said: "Prisoner Bonhoeffer. get ready to come with us." those words "Come with us"- for all prisoners they had come to mean one thing only- the scaffold. We bade him good-bye-he drew me aside- "This is the end," he said."For me the beginning of life."

A cynic is someone who focuses on the negative and is resigned to the way things are. Many who take this view would simply say that they are realists wanting to represent things the way they really are. Hope on the other hand is a confident expectation of good based on the person and promises of Jesus Christ. I think a cynic might look at the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and pity him. I would agree with them if I didn't believe in the Resurrection. "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."(1 Corinthians 15:19)

Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to base my actions and my life on my confidence in You. Please help me to guard my heart against the negative message that what I see is all there is.