[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

David Petraeus has spoken again. And somehow I feel like I did listening over the years to friends of mine whose dreams were just sure to come true someday, and whose ships were just bound to come in. They were, after all, promised this – over and over and over.

For some of them it was the assurance of that great job off in the distance, if they only played their cards right and put up with a series of indignities and delays. For others it was a married lover who dawdled for years, insisting the divorce was just around the corner, followed by a long‐awaited “happily ever after.”

Time passed. The coveted job was never attained. Some other excuse or twist of fate or competitor or company upheaval always got in the way. The journey down the aisle never happened either. There was always some reason, a good reason for sure, why it couldn’t. After awhile, with each of my disappointed friends, cynicism started to set in. The seemingly never‐ending disappointment became utterly corrosive. Along with the broken hearts and dashed dreams came a grievously violated trust as the reality set in: the carrot will always be dangled just out of reach – and you’ll never quite reach it.