disappointments can be hard to deal with when we're faced with them. we have certain expectations of ourselves and even more from others. when we fail to accomplish what we think we're capable of accomplishing, we become disappointed. when we hold others up to certain standards and they don't live up to them, they disappoint us. acceptance is an elusive target that keeps moving. so we tend to instead lock onto something more; more for ourselves and more for others to accomplish.
let's take president obama for example. i had no expectations of a good outcome concerning his presidency because i read between the lines and looked at the scenario realistically. here we have a middle aged man with no real experience being propped up by the media, adored by the masses because of his ability to speak well from a teleprompter, a man of two race, who looked like he had it all. a family, a law degree from harvard and a budding career as a young senator. comparisons were made to martin luther king, jr., john kennedy and an even more ridiculous comparison...jesus or the messiah. he was given a nobel peace prize not for anything he'd done, but because of others' expectations of what he would do.
however, what i saw was a shaky politician and opportunist, who was riding the wave of peoples' expectations of what they thought he was capable of doing and not basing their opinions of him on anything other than their expectations of what he would or could do. is this a way to select the leader of the free world? obama has exceeded my low expectations of him and proven to be worse than i could have ever imagined.
our culture has become a nation of dreamers. we dream of "hitting" the lottery, finding a case full of money that a drug dealer or bank robber lost on the side of the road. we dream of living a fabulous life where everyone loves us and we have no bills to pay, and we live in mansions and drive bentley's and porsches. we live day to day and entertain ourselves with fantasies that we see others living on tv or in the gossip columns. that's why it amazes me to see or hear of someone who is offered a promotion and they turn it down, offered a business deal or partnership and they pass on it and when asked why, they say it would be too much responsibility or i don't think i want to go in that direction. what? you want a better life, but you don't want to go in that direction because it's too much work and would cut into your entertainment, daydream time? give me a break. when faced with reality the expectations seem to have cold water thrown on them.
i spoke with a cpa friend last week. he stopped by my office. he loves to debate me. it seems that my office at times is like a barbershop where people come by to debate and argue with me more than anything else. well, the last time i saw him nearly a year ago, he was still calling himself an independent voter. he's a black guy in his 50's. he has had a very decent life along the way. he has a master's degree served as an officer in the military...been married to the same woman for many years. they have two grown kids now in the military and one still in high school. he served as a high level irs executive until his retirement and now has a cpa firm. he has lived up to his expectations for himself through hard work and dedication; however, his expectations of obama were high at one time...now they've gone through the floor and his pride just won't let him admit that i was right...but of course i don't let him off the hook that easily and rub it in the whole time we visit. he wouldn't believe me when i told him that he's a closet republican.
i told him if not then he's the only democrat that i know with 800 credit scores. he then told me i was the only republican that he knows that's no longer out on a limb...but now i'm living out on a leaf. i thought that was pretty funny. he's still a brainwashed liberal. he thinks all republicans are rich and i guess my expectations of liberals aren't all that high. there's probably an area of compromise to our differing believes but we didn't find them that day and i'm not sure we ever will, but he is at least being realistic about obama now. one down and half a country to go. i don't know... 2012 is coming pretty quickly i may need to revise my expectations of how many people i can get to see the light by them down a few million.
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