“I was a modern woman and disappointment was something I understood better than fear.”
– A quote from Little Bee, the novel

It’s that in most of the world, when someone makes a mistake or someone is angry, there is only fear of your own death or the fear of the death of your loved ones. Only in the Western world, do we have the luxury of disappointment.

We can show up to DMV at our appointed time and unexpectedly wait 3 hours to just get your license renewed. Or your car can get side swiped by another car in a parking lot. Or that your boss gives you a ton of work due Monday that you didn’t expect before a fully planned weekend.

But there’s no fear of death, no fear…of the core primal instincts. It’s only disappointment that you could have spent your time elsewhere, that you have to pay extra or that you won’t sleep that much.

As Westerners, we have that luxury. When a deadline is not reached, we won’t die. Perhaps there may not be a job…but there’s always hope.

I remember a colleague telling me how he did not like working for a financial institution. They would have him and his colleagues up late working to a deadline. But the deadline was meaningless. So the work was completed by then…but then what? Was there something so earth-shaking that another day wouldn’t matter? Was someone going to die? Literally is what i mean.

Sure as Westerners, we think about ourselves first. But isn’t that the way that…once our primal needs are satisified…that we attain completeness?

By the way, how could an employer (namely Chris’) suddenly decide that 2 weeks of vaccay (11 days before departure) when notified two months in advance is not possible? I am disappointed as any other Westerner.