No, this isn’t a book review on the timeless classic by the incomparable Mr. Charles Dickens, nor is it even a shoddy attempt to follow in his Herculean wordsmithing footprint. It is, however, my own, unique look at expectations
.
We all have them
Expectations, desires, wishes, dreams, hopeful thoughts for
the future, all of these sublime focal points reside quite comfortably inside
our craniums, our psyches -- if you will; and equally we hold faults, sins,
short comings and barriers inside of our own hearts. And while this never
ending battle of wills rages inside of each and every one of us every single
day of our lives, it seems as though the single ideal we cling to above all
others is expectation.
Allow me to explain
People are programmed to project their own viewpoints,
perceptions and (dare I say) neurosis on other individuals. Less and less do we
seek to understand as opposed to dictate. Times grow fewer and fewer that we
consider the feelings of someone else, without understanding theirs. More are
more is humanity pushing its own selfish, fleeting desires, without holding
fast to caring for those within reach. We have become complicit. We have become
stagnant. Yet, we all make excuses for it, don’t we?
We expect
We expect people to understand us, without seeking first to
understand them. We expect people to accept us for who we are, without making
the slightest effort to accept them. We dally in the sphere of self-loathing
and we project our insecurities on everyone else, unapologetically. We judge.
We rally. We scorn. And we commit all of these atrocities name of great
expectations; the sense that the world should be a mirror image of what we
believe it should be, instead of what it actually is.
I’m not saying that having expectations in some facets of
life is useless. Nor am I saying that we should throw expectations out of the
window. After all, having expectations of how we should behave, on how we
should treat others is a healthy thing. Expecting ourselves to achieve
something better in life, holding ourselves to a higher standard of
performance, expecting growth and change within our own hearts and minds; these
are all natural, all normal things, vital to progression. Yet, perhaps instead
of expecting everyone to see the world through our own fuzzy set of rose-colored
glasses, the greatest expectation when it comes to understanding those around
us might be having no expectation at all, and allow understanding to wash over us like the tide over rocks in the ocean.
Weigh in. What do you think?
Tonight’s “Soundtrack of Life” is one that is all about
great expectations. Take a listen, and you’ll figure out what I mean by that.
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