Expectations

I have been dealing with a problem. I have expectations. I expect people to live by the rules that they have supposedly accepted and agree to live by.

It’s like some kid that wants to play a board game with you, but wants to make up his own rules as he goes along. You don’t want to play with the kid that won’t play by the rules, do you? I feel the same thing in real life. Every day.

If you have a job, you have rules that your employer expects you to abide by; be punctual, do your work, don’t steal, don’t lie, ect. and so on. Some are so basic that we seldom talk about them, some are a little more complicated, but we all know the rules of our home or workplace. If we don’t, then something is wrong.

If someone jumps the border, it seems to me that they know that they are doing something illegal. Now they are bitching and whining that they are going to be made criminals. They seem to think that they are entitled to a ‘get out of jail free’ card, given full privileges, and forgiven for anything that they have ever done wrong.

Maybe I should not have expectations. Experience is teaching me that expecting people to behave as if they are civilized is not reasonable. Experience teaches me to expect people to act like spoiled children, throwing baby fits when they are caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Experience teaches me that people will go sneaking around trying to get away with things that they know are wrong, but want forgiveness when they are caught, not justice. Justice always is for other people, never for us.

From what I am seeing on the media lately, it seems like the last thing that Americans want is justice. American’s want free fuel, wars free from conflict, freedom for their religion and no other, everyone loving one another, and to dictate how the government acts by demonstrations, not voting. We seem to think that all people are good, and just because some guy killed his sisters husband and tried to give a jacket made from the skin to his girlfriend, he should be put back on the streets after a couple of therapy sessions and a good stern talking too because he says that he was off his medications for that ugly skin rash that caused him so much embarrassment when he was a child.

My expectations have been causing me a lot of emotional grief because I take these things seriously. When I catch someone at work stealing, I get pissed. When I have to work with undocumented workers, I get pissed. When I see Cindy Sheehan protesting the war and claiming the President is avoiding her because he made vacation plans that did not take into consideration HER schedule, I get pissed.

We, as a society, seem to be becoming a society of whiny, spoiled children, throwing protests when we realize that the people we voted into office are unable to make things happen without some cost coming back to the voter.

There is ALWAYS cost, people! You can’t protest the laws of nature or economics!
(Well, you can, but you might just show the rest of the world just how out of touch you really are. Might I suggest that you go all the way and protest the law of gravity? THAT law oppresses EVERYBODY.)

But other people have expectations, too. Their expectations seem to lean toward accepting no responsibility. I expect people to act like adults and other people expect authority figures to accept and forgive irresponsible behavior.

I expect people to be responsible; people seem to want to be irresponsible.

In my mind, they are clearly wrong. We all need to be held accountable for our actions. If we are not, then the all things we have worked so hard to achieve are devalued.

Think about it. It will come to you. What I just said really does make sense; you will just have to think it through. Take your time. Hint: The statement applies as much to societies as it does to individuals.

Have a responsible day.