Dissapointment

We all have disappointments; things that fall short of our hopes, dreams, desires or expectations, Heartbreak, job loss, not getting into that elusive, college, competition, club...the list goes on and on. Most of us deal with them in acceptable and hopefully constructive ways.  Sometimes we rail and throw temper tantrums, but they are short lived, if thrown at all.

Sweet Briar College announced its' closing today; a huge shock and disappointment.  My friends and I wondered if they accepted applications this year for the fall of 2015?  Did they take early admission applications?  If they did and accepted people, is that fraud?

Disappointment can be elevated then, from drat to NO!  What does one do when that happens?  Is it worse for applicants, or for the families and individuals who have invested thousand of dollars and hours of work in study at Sweet Briar already?

People disappoint sometimes too.  Frequently, out of habit we disappoint consistently, that is part of the definition of being human.  When does individual failure escalate from rats, to an intolerable NO?

Perhaps intolerability leads to independence, and the change required to make an individual grow, separate and develop into the very human they were supposed to be.  This is what moves our children to leave home and live on their own.

If we can move through disappointment, even at the criminal level, and seek the rest of the human, can we find joy and satisfaction?  I am reading  a book that calls "expectations  - emotional blackmail;" a heavy accusation.  Every parent I know is guilty, but would not the world be a horrible place if we had no such expectations?  Perhaps that is an illusion of authority and grandeur (or delusions thereof). Parenting requires a certain amount of hubris mixed with courage.  We are responsible for a life and for launching a person onto the rest of the human race; error could be irresponsibly tragic. Is forgiveness in the face of disappointment ransom?

Mistakes and disappointment grease wheels of change or gears of rage, I have moved in both realms, without much effect in either, and that is fortunate.  Sometimes invisibility is a good thing.