Life's Disappointments

Certain things that happen along the bumpy road of life are really disappointing. Like not finding a cherry in your serving of fruit cocktail. Or flopping down at your seventh grade desk in the morning only to find that the pretty girl in the next row is skipping school that day. Digging a near-perfect foxhole at the close of a dreary day, covering it with logs and dirt, leaning back contentedly while examining your handiwork and then hearing the cry, "On your feet, we're moving out in five minutes!"

This day has been free of disappointments, at least so far, and that's the best time to think about other days when that was not true. When everything is going wrong and the world lies heavy on your shoulders there's not much joy in remembering days when the bird of paradise dropped a load on your head. No, bad days are best recalled on good days.

Some people say disappointment and hardship build character. I say the hell with that idea, I'm enough of a character as it is. When you've been beaten into the dirt you don't want some guy hitting you over the head with a shovel and saying, "This is making a better man of you."

On the other hand, having it too easy isn't good for a person, especially a young person. If you always have a cherry in your fruit cocktail you don't fully appreciate the joy of finding one there. This is true, especially for other people. Myself, I've had more than my fair share of bad days and disappointments so you can yell, "On your feet, we're moving out in five minutes!" till your lungs burst because I ain't moving anywhere. Not even if the pretty girl in the next row never shows up again.

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