Taming the Cynical Self

Jennifer Zurko

We’ve all heard the saying, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and most of us really believe that. To be cynical or a constant skeptic, is that an American thing? Are men more mistrustful than women? Does it matter if you live in a big city or out in the country? Is it instilled in your personality or is it your environment?

I dropped psychology in college, so I don’t know the answers to these questions or whether if even asking them unfairly pigeonholes a certain group of people. But what I do believe is that almost everyone is skeptical or has a cynical point of view on something. Like the lottery—the odds are so ginormous that I don’t see the point in buying a ticket. Plus, I live in Illinois and they haven’t been paying the lottery winners because of the eight-month budget impasse, which is a whole other story …

Anyway, I thought about the cynicism of people when I was talking to Caroline Nordahl Wells and Rebecca Nordin of Heliospectra for this month’s cover story. As LED lights become more common in homes, and now greenhouses, there are more companies that are getting in on the action. So I asked them if they were worried about all of the new and existing competition. The answer surprised me.

Caroline said that their biggest challenge is overcoming the skepticism of the growers, who have a hard time believing that these new-fangled multi-colored lights are as good—or even better—than the ones that they’ve been using for years. One grower, Rainbow Greenhouses in British Columbia, decided to take the plunge and installed LED lights in their new glass greenhouse range. They put their skeptism to the side and let the trials that they’d been conducting help them make the decision to risk it. In 10 years, I bet we’ll be seeing LEDs everywhere. Hey, I bet you were skeptical about legit commercial greenhouse growers getting into marijuana, but it’s happening.

Something else that may cause you to play the cynic is the price of fuel. Two things I bet you’ve thought or said before: “Yeah, prices are low now, but how long is that going to last?” and “When are fuel prices going to go down, for Pete’s sake?!” Read about how fuel price fluctuations can affect your bottom line.

If this business has made a cynic out of you, I hope that this spring season has lowered those levels a bit. It’s funny how a really good season can turn skepticism into hopefulness. As a Chicago Cubs fan, I know those feelings all too well.