Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. - Leo Buscaglia
There was so much anticipation for Ireland having a successful Rugby World Cup campaign that you would think that a national tragedy has taken place by their failure to notch up significant results in their games so far.
As I write this Argentina are controlling the second half of the game and the fight in Ireland is coming in fits and starts. However Ireland’s whole tournament has made me wonder about the pressures of expectation that follow us all in various guises.
Maybe it has been the weight of expectation that the Irish players had put on themselves that is the cause of their failure to qualify for the Quarter Finals, maybe it is a media that has trumped up calls for them to rise to the occasion and prove that they can be ranked alongside New Zealand as one of the best in the world.
Whatever the reason may be, Rugby fans have put a great deal of faith, and money, into Ireland producing the goods and one would say they have been let down. Which brings me to talking about expectation. Do we look for immortals when we see those that we admire? Do we worship our heroes to such an extent that the pedestal can be too hard and too small to live on?
Sometimes it is not easy just living with our own expectancy without trying to live with the inflated level of expectancy of others. As children we believe our parents are super human and can do anything. They always seem to be there for us and thus as we get older we expect that to continue.
When we realise that they are just like us and have their own frailties should we feel let down or have more respect for them because we put them first? In my case I can look back and say that it was a strange thing to have to see both my parents not on a pedestal. At the same time I think it brought me closer to them and allowed me to have more admiration for them and what they were trying to do in terms of my upbringing.
We look at famous people and automatically assume that their lives are always brilliant that they never have bad days and that being in their shoes for a day would be a dream come true. The reality is that we cannot comprehend their lives, much as we may like to. To have to deal with such worship that is unrelenting cannot be easy, their lives are not their own on most occasions.
Expecting the world to treat you fairly
because you are a good person
is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you
because you are a vegetarian.
Dennis Wholey
Sunday, September 30th, 2007 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
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