The third layer of expectations is what we expect of our own lives; what will each of us become. 

Some things, we have control over, some things we don’t. 

Things we don’t have control over: 

1) The kind of families we are born into; how complete and how loving our family is. 

2) The level of IQ or the talents we each have. I believe there are different kinds of smarts. I’m not good at everything, 

     but I can 90% build a house from the ground-up. 

3) The zip code we are raised in. Some places are better than others . 

4) The color we are born, and the gender we are born. Each of these bring some limitations or some possibilities. 

     But just as the Wright Brothers dared to try to fly, we all have a shot at doing what no one thought we could. 

5) The body parts we are born with, or without.  

6) The situation of the world we were born into. 

Many of your great-grandfathers were drafted by the US Army to fight Adolf Hitler and the Axis in World War 2. 

Many of your great-grandmas had husbands or brothers that never came home. 

My wife's great-uncle died in France at the end of WW 1, likely from the Spanish Flu that killed Barton.

My wife's uncle died in WW 2, at the invasion at Normandy, at Utah Beach.

Barton fought in the US Civil War, which he never planned, but many older people in his day suspected it might happen. 

And his ‘dance with the horses’ changed the life he was planning to lead with the girl he intended to marry. 

But there are also parts of our lives that we HAVE control over, and as we grow up, we need to be careful: 

Don’t let your 5th Grade-self, mess up life for your 7th Grade-self, 

and don’t let your 7th Grade-self, mess up life for your 9th Grade-self,  as illustrated in the photo above.

(those are my school photos, but the script is made-up, to illustrate this point)

Not only can our actions hurt someone else today, our actions can hurt ourselves next week, next year, next decade. 

If every day, we do as many things right as we can, and do as much good as we have the opportunity to do, 

then the seeds are planted for a better life. 

Eric J. Rose
middlegrademysteries.com
photo: EJR/LDP