Great Expectations

I have been conditioned to expect to be completely disappointed in any given situation, and I always am.

This may be a side effect of having had fairy tales read to me as a young and impressionable child.

As that young child, these tales led me to believe that my life would follow a natural order. It would start out ideally. A hardship would befall me. I would struggle. Very soon however, I would overcome all obstacles with a bit of help from a perfect specimen of the opposite sex, who would adore me for eternity. The haters in the world would disappear, flowers would bloom, and birds would sing . . .

Then I got a job. Do I need to expound on this? I’ll just point out the highlights of which I’m sure, if you’ve ever been employed, you’ve experienced first hand.

Nothing is fair. People are frequently unethical. A coworker will likely sacrifice you for personal gain. Your employer who is fueled by greed, will always expect you to do more work for less pay. Every year more for less. Then when you think they can’t possibly take more and give less, they take more and give less. This is to be expected. It’s wrong, and no one cares.

Now let’s talk about all those perfect specimens of the opposite sex. They want the same thing I want . . . a perfect man. Yes, they’re all gay. If they’re not gay, they have addiction problems, employment problems, mommy issues, they’re married, etc. Let me dumb this down for you. They don’t exist.

So now what’s left to be disappointed in?

The haters disappearing is unlikely. More realistically, I’ve revised my opinion of them. They are the future employers. Kept at arms length we can coexist.

The flowers blooming, well mine are still buried under dried leaves from the fall. I do plan to rake those leaves soon.

The birds singing, let’s talk. There is a cardinal who lives in a nest somewhere near my bedroom window. He seems to think that if he repeatedly flies into said window, he will eventually be successful, and break through the obstacle of glass, like Alice In Wonderland. He however won’t end up in Wonderland, he will be in Nirvana.

This cardinal who keeps hitting my window is optimistic. His fairy tale bubble is still light and free, drifting, floating with great expectations of peace and serenity, of paradise.

I’d like to go with him.