When you get to college, no one ever asks, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Instead, you're repeatedly crank called by a cynic who says, "When you grow up – and reality sucker punches you – you'll see the world for what it really is."

Romantic idealism offers the inebriating freedom of naiveté. That's why the affliction is associated with youth – sometimes a euphemism for ignorance. But what happens when "what ought to be" doesn't match "what really is?"

"Hope is not a plan" may as well be the campaign slogan for realists to combat all the empty rhetoric of politicking televangelists.

Seeing the world through the lens of my former editor – a curmudgeon who's been there, done that and seen everything before – I've developed a lack of willingness to join hands with strangers and sing Kumbaya.

He spotlights again and again how the world is going to hell, and how he'll write the headline on that breaking news story. I try and inspire confidence in him. He, in turn, responds with current losses to his 401(k).

33 years in the newspaper business. That’s all he knows. That’s all he’s ever done. That’s all he is. “I have one goal — to retire,” he said. “And I can’t even do that.”

Full-time professional news staffs fell by 2,400 last year, a drop of 4.4% to a total of 52,600. Layoffs have become commonplace at newspapers throughout the country. But few regions have been hit as hard as the San Francisco Bay Area.

Yet these understaffed newsrooms are still required to fill daily papers with original content despite a debilitating lack of internal resources.

Despite our obvious differences (gender, race, class, age, religious beliefs, etc.), we've supported each other through the most difficult of personal and professional times – under the guise of shop talk. But I'm convinced that these editorial meetings are repeated attempts to convert the other – and we're too stubborn to say "uncle."

After all, how do you treat Superman for kryptonite poisoning?

With each birthday, I lose my will to fight him, and I reluctantly begin to see what he's talking about. Gratefully, he never says "I told you so" to my face. What he does is keep showing up.

That's what reality looks like -- everyday ritual and routine. It takes a lot more than wishing and hoping to change that.

My Facebook Cause

Protect Journalists!

1. Journalists' rights need to be defended and protected.
2. We need to make the public aware of attacks on the press.
3. Journalists should not be persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.