Society: A Serious Disappointment?

I just experienced a major disappointment.  Well, I was exactly disappointed in something others would call "major" like a business failing or my parents getting divorced or something, but it was important to me because of who let me down.  Okay, one of my friends came into town, spent time with his girlfriend and promised to visit me at my job.  (I promise this blog will make sense eventually, but you must be patient with me.)  Anyway, his girlfriend just happens to be my best friend, so all of us are pretty close.  They both were supposed to visit me at my job, but they were out having a ball and lost track of time.  What sucks is that for the first time in a while, I allowed something that silly to bother me.  It is okay for them to enjoy one another's company without thinking about anyone else.  It's pretty natural.  But the fact of the matter is that I still felt let down because he gave his word.

While growing up, I learned to not expect too much from people because of the pain of disappointment.  I took on the "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude.  But, now that I think about it, I was still disappointed in people for not proving me wrong. 

"Make me believe in you!" These are the words that I thought but could never say. 

Society is the same way.  There was a time when the slightest crime covered in the news shocked us, but now we shrug our shoulders because we expect it.  We expect people to hurt one another.  We expect corruption.  We expect immoral politics.  Unfortunately, we do.  And, as soon as we start to believe in each other, something else lets us down.  When we're disappointed, we lower our expectations and stop believing.  I now think this situation is the most dangerous.  When we stop believing in our world, our government or even our children, we stop taking positive action.  We have to be willing to be disappointed.  No, it doesn't feel good, but when we're honest and voice our opinions we can see change.

I did tell them both that I was a bit disappointed, and they apologized. I think they'll both be more mindful of their promises, and I will be too.  But I will always believe in them.