Welcome to Darren Daly on demand, your most trusted resource to help you become better every day.

Here's your success mentor, Darren Hardy.

Years before Abraham Lincoln was president and years before the American Civil War,

in a speech in 1838, Lincoln said, quote,

The greatest danger to the nation

is coming from within. All the armies of the world cannot crush us, but we could still die by suicide.

Cynicism, polarization, and tribalism was tearing apart the recently formed and still very fragile American society. And now today,

as we look about the same exact situation is happening. The greatest danger to our society

is coming from within. Our tribalism is paralyzing our society. We practice suspicion or

contempt where trust is needed. We scorch our opponents

with language that precludes compromise. We refute facts with dogma. We brush aside the possibility

that a person with whom we disagree might actually be right. We talk about what divides us and seldom acknowledge what unites us.

Contending viewpoints and outspoken dissent are inevitable and not the issue.

Serious differences in opinion are essential and not the issue.

What's dangerous here is the snarl, the scorn, and the lacerating cynicism it is rooted in.

Cynicism is not productive. It is corrosive and destructive. Cynicism offers nothing. No solution, no hope.

And in our society today, cynicism has become a virtue signal for courage.

Cynicism is not courage. It's cowardice. It's not strength. It's weakness. Cynicism is not

being real. It's not realism. It's excuse making. It's taking the easy way out, it's giving up.

Cynicism fosters a distrust of reality.

It provokes a suspicion that hidden malign forces are at play.

It is nothing less than a form of surrender to victimhood, to let yourself off the hook.

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