Expectations

I've been watching Martian Child and something hit me. One of the characters said "Why can't you be what we want you to be?" and I realized that I really, really dislike that question.

And it's not the individual words that bother me. It's the intention behind it.

Expectations are difficult things. Not all expectations are bad, but not all expectations are good either.

My biggest struggle with expectations is when other people are frustrated with me because I didn't behave how they want me to.

And I'm not perfect about this myself, as there are times I expect Ace to know how I want him to act or what I want him to do when he has no clue where to even start to meet my expectations.

But the biggest thing, the picture I'm still slightly struggling to fully see, is that I shouldn't expect things of other people, including Ace. Because what I think others should do and what the should do may be on totally opposite of each other. And I don't have a right to sit in judgment of anyone but me (except if I'm serving on a jury, but then the government is requesting me to judge someone's actions).

So, I'm going to try (the key word here is try) to not form expectations of other people and to only form reasonable expectations of myself.

And all I can ask, is that other people be patient with me, as I'm sure to mess up some as I'm trying to change. But, I'm trying and that should be important. And I'll try to remember that you are probably trying too.

And maybe, if we all try and try to remember that others are trying, then just maybe we'll make this world a better place.

We'll just have to see.