Not so great expectations...
Well, hello again,
so before I begin, I just want to apologise for not being here, I do
have an excellent excuse though, I’ve been -quite literally-up in
the air. But now I am safely back on the ground, I wanted to share a
few thoughts which occurred to me, following the recent furore over
the reported comments by the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Now,
before I continue, I have no intention of becoming involved in any
political discussion, aside from the fact, it is for the American
people alone to choose their leader, I don’t want to stray too far
from my central theme, which is expectations.
I would imagine,
before all the discussion, Mr Trump was known to be a successful
businessman, who was perhaps seen by some as controversial, but,
nevertheless, a public figure. Undoubtedly, he must have gained many
admirers, people who aspired to emulate both his success and his
personality. When he began his presidential campaign, I am sure the
country had their ideas about what he was like, and so it follows,
some expectations. They must have assumed he was an intelligent,
well-read man, used to dealing with heads of state, senior
businessmen etc So perhaps, the idea of having him in charge of the
country seemed like a good idea, after all, coming from outside the
political world, he could potentially bring an entirely new
perspective to running the country. Obviously, since the revelations
about his attitude to women and those from other cultural and/or
religious backgrounds, you find yourself facing the fact, those
original expectations were unrealistic. But does that mean they all
have to be? Are we destined to be permanently let down? I am hoping
the answer to both those questions is a resounding ‘no.’
In my own life, as I
am sure in yours, I have a degree of expectation, for example, to be
treated properly, after all, I try to be mindful of others, so it
doesn’t seem too much to ask, for that to be reciprocated, sadly,
this doesn’t always happen. A further example would be, all
children should have the expectation to be brought up by a loving
family in a safe environment, but that doesn’t always happen
either- but in our modern world, surely it should. It just seems to
me, we are all in danger of setting our sights too low, we expect
‘the worst’ now and maybe that’s why it’s happening. The
general public seem to have little or no expectation, our politicians
have any real interest in anything other than furthering their own
careers while slipping ill-gotten gains into their wallet. Nobody is
even remotely surprised when public figures are revealed to be
involved in drugs or sex scandals, in fact, it’s almost expected.
But this lack of
expectation isn’t only for the rich and infamous, even in our every
day lives, we don’t seem to expect too much either..despite the
raft of equal rights legislation, too often there are stories within
the media, where morale within employees has sunk so far, they have
no ambition left at all. It’s almost as if, too readily, we simply
accept disappointment and anyone still with any genuine expectations
is considered foolish, if that is allowed to continue, apathy
invariably creeps in and we are left with no hope at all.
However, as I said
earlier, I don’t believe we should be quite so quick to believe
there is nothing to be gained by having expectations. As in the case
of Mr Trump, perhaps the recent troubling revelations about his
alleged core beliefs, might make others stop and think about their
own conduct. I can only hope, they will consider not only about how
their behaviour can negatively impact their own aspirations, but also
how with each revelation, the rest of the world will ultimately be
forced to accept lower standards as normal.
Even in what some
might perceive as less important ways, we all have to be aware of
being ‘less’ than what someone else might rightly expect from us.
I know, for example, when a new movie or song is released, the fans
rightfully have the expectation of, at the very least, being
entertained with new material. So the level of disappointment is
almost palpable, when the artist finally releases a new album, and
its discovered to contain little more than a few mediocre songs and
reworkings of various previous hits. For me, what is worse, is when
fans save money to buy tickets to see their favourite singer, only
for their idol to either turn up late, or if they do make it to the
stage, they ramble incoherently or, storm off after two songs,
deciding they ‘simply cannot carry on any longer’. Sadly, the
audience is left with their expectation of a memorable night
shattered, while the performer still receives the wildly generous
paycheck without suffering as much as a sleepless night. But as in
all things in life, there is balance, many other stars create shows
which exceed even the fans’ highest expectations, as they wish to
show their appreciation for the ongoing support. I guess this
suggests, when people rightfully expect something of you, you have to
do your best to achieve it, so maybe having a conscience is also a
part of the equation.
I truly believe, the
key to maintaining high expectations, in whatever area of life, is to
consider our actions more carefully- all of us- not just a few. As if
we aim to achieve them, maybe we are going to be less keen to accept
anything less, our expectations are ours to control, but not just
those we hold for others, more importantly the ones we have for
ourselves...until the next time…
Take care out there
xx
