“She wondered, faintly, if it was immoral to raise children in the habit of hope. Was it not, in the end, all the harder for them to adjust to the reality of how the world worked?”
– Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
PERSONAL NOTE: Too cynical? Perhaps. I’ve wondered the same. I think, however, that I’d rather hope than not. Yes, if you don’t maintain hope, you won’t be disappointed; but if you don’t hope, you will also be just as miserable the whole time as you would be for the far shorter periods of disappointment you might experience. Also, I like to believe the positive attitude that Hope provides decreases the frequency with which you will be disappointed, as you will be more likely to make the sacrifices or changes necessary to achieve your goals if you have Hope, versus the cynical expectation of failure and the associated “Why bother?” mentality that goes with it.