One of the the most notable examples of bad line reading in television history occurred in the 1990’s action show Hercules, where the lead actor gives the following line: “This is not my world. Disappointed.” The way he says the lines, one would think that he considered himself to be in line for a Golden Globe or an Emmy award, but such was not to be. Perhaps he had to mask his disappointment in the fact that his overacting attracted ridicule and not the critical acclaim that he may have sought. Disappointment is, though, a common state of affairs in this world it seems, whether it is our world or not.

I often find it baffling that given the life that I have that I could actually be disappointed. Sadly, disappointment comes fairly often, often enough to remind me that as cynical a human being as I am that I am not often cynical enough to guard myself against the fickleness of my fate, whether that disappointment comes from within or without. To expect and demand so little of other people and to be disappointed nonetheless is rather galling, but such is the state of mhy life, and I am not sure exactly what can be done about it. To expect any less of others would lead me in a rather misanthropic sort of position of some bitterness, and I have no interest in going that direction. But even as a somewhat skeptical and suspicious person I find that disappointment occurs often enough to remind me that this life is full of difficulties.

And to be fair, most of those who have done the disappointing do so for reasons that are sensible and difficult. It is not as if those people who do the disappointing have an easy time of it. I can’t think that many people enjoy disappointing me, even if they have good reasons to do it because of the pressures that they are under in other relationships. Most people, myself included, really hate hurting others, and often do so only when we see it as the least of the evils and because of the problems between some people and others. Without naming any names, because it is unhelpful and unnecessary, in most cases the difficulties have been because there was no solution seen to a problem that allowed everyone to be happy and reasonably content, and so someone had to hurt. That’s just the way it goes.

Perhaps if the disappointment is sometimes inevitable, then what happens afterwards is noteworthy. Generally speaking, I tend to think of myself as at least somewhat understanding of a person (even if I am not exactly particularly pleased when others disappoint me), and knowing the reasons why tends to make matters a lot less hostile, even though other people often tend to assume that I’m more angry than I am about such matters, which has often made the aftermath and the response to the disappointment more difficult with such people. By and large, I like to focus on what is to be done and what can be done given the options. As a pretty realistic (sometimes even grimly realistic person), I don’t expect this world to present pleasant options, but I do expect there to be at least something that can be done. If one has to deal with disappointment, at least one can go about making the best of it.