Handling Disappointment

Just in case you don’t know me, here’s a little fact you ought to be made aware of. I love the game of football. Big boy football; the NFL. And, I am a HUGE Chicago Bears fan. Now you know.

I share that little bit of personal information because it will help you understand where I’m coming from. You see, in this post I’m going to write about disappointment.

Bears’ fans understand disappointment. They may not handle it very well, but they understand it.

I understand disappointment.

Chicago Cubs fans THINK they understand disappointment, but no, they really don’t. Fantasy they understand; disillusion they get. Disappointment is foreign to a Cubs fan.

You see, in order for someone to be disappointed, there first must be a reason to hope. Without hope, there will never be a letdown. But if things look promising, and you hold on, hold on, hold on…

Disappointment happens when holding on doesn’t work. So close, and yet so far away.

I just finished watching the Bears’ final game for 2013. Playing the Packers, their divisional rivals, for the right to go to the playoffs. Winner takes all; loser drags tail and goes home until next year.

Wow! Did I have hope! Especially toward the end of the game. The Bears looked mighty good; playoff material was what I was thinking. But, no matter how hard I gripped the TV remote, and regardless of how much I twisted and turned in my chair, I could not keep the Bears from losing!

Disappointment. Plain and simple; disappointment.

How do YOU handle disappointment?

Some people handle it by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of intoxication. Some will even get behind the wheel of their automobile, not able to reason or react in a necessary manner, causing a traffic accident; with sometimes fatal results.

Should a game be THAT disappointing?

I’ve heard of people who become so angry, it’s not safe to be in the same room with them. They throw things, break things, and sometimes even hit their loved ones! Why?

Because they were disappointed!

Sports broadcasts really should have a warning, a public service announcement, SOMETHING that alerts people of the high risk of disappointment. Something like, “Warning: the sports event you are about to watch could be a huge disappointment for you by the time the event is finished. If you are prone to disappointment, if you cannot handle disappointment in a healthy manner, please change the channel or turn your television completely off. Thank you.”

There ARE things that may warrant an angry, even violent response to disappointment. Very few things, however. VERY FEW!

But a football game isn’t one of them; even if YOUR team should’ve won.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV)