Great Expectations
The title of what some have heralded as Dickens best work may be a bit misleading.
Does anyone think that Pip ever expected life to turn out the way it did? The thought gives one pause to think, “What do I expect of life?”
I was reflecting on what the word expectations means because, as I’m sure you, my readers have experienced, life doesn’t always turn out the way we hope or plan for it to be. When that happens, we may strategize as to the reasons, much as do they that are grieving bargain in order to diminish their pain.
Expectations, whether great or small, relate to future prospects. They almost always involve waiting for something. (Patience will be the subject of a later musing.) If what we expect doesn’t turn out the way we planned, then we are disappointed. Someone once said, “Have no expectations and you’ll never have to be disappointed.” Still another believed that without hope or expectation one lacks the energy to move forward or plan.