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Cynicism shuts people off. They already know everything, there's no chance that something they don't know might come along and surprise them. Cynics live small, bitter, impenetrable little lives, constrained by what they already think they know.
Skeptics, on the other hand, analyze things, hold them up against their standards, judge things. But a skeptic is open to the possibility that they might encounter something that surprises them. It'll take a lot, and it'll have to be the Real Deal, but it's possible. A skeptical approach to life is, in my book, Only Sensible.
Now, it's NOT HOPELESS for a cynic. I don't think there's any such thing as someone who IS cynical, and that's the end of the story. People can be any way they choose to be. It's just that some people choose cynicism (or other things) more frequently than not.
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