The Power of Expectations

Of course the picture looks fake.Look at the splash from that kid entering the pool from the slide —clearly a pool this shallow can’t make that sort of splash. But still… You go to the store and pick out some backyard fun. You pay for it, excited about what is to come, thinking about the enjoyment, and how your friends will want to come over and play with this new toy, this toy of toys. And then you get the package home, blow the slide up, and it looks something like the picture, but it’s smaller, somehow disappointing.

We live in a world chock full of expectations. A world of expectations driven by modified images. I just read someplace that all the nude scenes in a recent movie weren’t really nude, but clothed —the nudity was painted in after the filming was complete. So real women simply are no longer good enough for anyone any longer. And politics? Need I remind you that we are suffering under a man who claimed to be all things to all people. A man who poured every expectation they’ve ever had in their lives in to?

The worst thing is this type of disappointment drives itself. You see the image in the package, and you buy it. You get it home, and it disappoints. So you’re angry. But what’s the solution? Withdrawal into a fantasy world on the computer or television where the images are always perfect. Which builds your expectations. And the next time you face the real world? Those expectations —the higher ones you just built by slipping into that fantasy world— will be shattered again. And so the cycle repeats.

Isn’t it time to break the cycle?