An improbable combination

Hope is the last bastion of human endurance.
Don't know where I read or heard it. May be a book, may be a movie. It is too good to be an original statement. Ah, cynicism mixed with hope. A strange mixture. An improbable combination. Then again, I think it is one of the gifts of 21st century. When you know too much, to be not cynical. And yet a million years of human evolution sneaks in an ounce of hope.
When you discover suddenly that you like peppy Jazz music, and it transports you to light autumn rains outside a pub in New York. The cool yellowish haze of city lights, the hum of life and movement, the gentle titter-patter of reluctant rains, the smoky scents. A sleepy city, fully awake.
Imagination that takes you to a place and time you have never known. Then you know there is hope.
Why? Because you know things have happened in the past. Things that first came to your imagination. Unlikely things, which came to pass. Defiance of nature, of our petty cynicism. I don't think its benevolence. It is more of a ' oh, you thought this cannot happen? Let me prove you wrong'. A smirking god, showing you are but a windblown leaf making arrogant assumptions.

And you find yourself in situations you thought would never come to pass. You don't know whether to be shocked or pleasantly surprised. Be pleasantly surprised i tell you, that is one thing you have in you hands.
Assume people are talking good about you. Assume you know what you are doing. Assume they want to be friends. It is all assumption anyway. Why bet against yourself? Haven't you surprised yourself in the past? You think that will not happen again?
Brain, behaviour is a product of five things - genetics, environment at home, immediate circle of interaction or society, education and exposure. Here-in some things cannot be changed.
Genetics and family environment during the formative years for instance.
Imagine it is a post-apocalyptic society, with people fighting for survival, it is unlikely brain will develop skills in art or music or dance. Education and exposure however can be changed, challenged and constantly improved.
There is something relaxing about a saxophone playing, which prompts you to unwind. I would have never written these lines, if I didn't come across https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sI_Ps7JSEk
What I'm saying is exposure brings newness. You should experience something new for the sake of itself. No other reason.
So that life doesn't stagnate. Do you have regrets? Does it matter now?  I'm not telling you to move on. I'm asking, what else can you do?
And do visit the  New York Jazz Lounge - Bar Jazz Classics link. Let me know if it inspires you to try something new.
Between the gates of cynicism and hope, you are but a windblown leaf..Chill.