Great Expectations

There's a severe increase  of wonderful individuals out there feeling insignificant.  People are down in the dumps based off the actions or reactions of someone else. Too many warm-hearted do gooders, go above and beyond for people who won't even do the bare minimum for them. The real tragedy though, is not the fact that most people do things in this world without getting the proper recognition. Or even the fact that the person one pulls out all the stops for, doesn't value them enough to do the same. The part of this whole crappy cycle that hurts the most is: Expectation. People do nice things for each other, they EXPECT gratitude. A person can treat their significant other like art in human form, that person EXPECTS the same treatment in return. One can sacrifice his or her whole life to ensure the growth and happiness of all that he or she loves, EXPECTING nothing less than excellence and joy, only to be sorely heartbroken later down the line. I've learned the hard way this past week, just because something is EXPECTED does NOT mean it is guaranteed. Two great conceptualizations people tend to misconstrue, which often results in crippling disappointment. There are two definitions to the word expectation, they're both essentially saying the same thing;

ex·pec·ta·tion/ˌekspekˈtāSH(ə)n/

noun

a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.

the act or state of looking forward or anticipating.

Either way, that translates into someone being highly upset when they allow their emotional well-being to be tied to what someone else may or may not do. To be perfectly honest, that is FAR from the way things should as well as NEED to be. Once again, how you treat a person is not gauranteed to have any impact on the way they treat you. Sad but true.  One can not control person's  actions towards them anymore then they can control the weather. The faster everyone realizes this, the less watery eyes and mopey faces there will be.