tyranny of expectations
DESCRIPTION
My tyranny speechTRANSCRIPT
Singh 1
Meheak Singh
Ms. Gardner
English/ Period 1
30 October 2015
Eliminating Expectations
Expectations are a part of daily life. We, the people , expect ourselves to do things 1
getting up, going to school, and getting good grades but do those expectations truly elevate us or
only drag us down? They seem harmless, and completely normal, when in fact they are plaguing
our lives. No one stops and asks, “What if it doesn’t happen?” The definition of an expectation
is to anticipate an occurrence or to look for within reason and justification, but are these
assumptions of the future truly worth the distress they cause? What is the point in setting an
impossible goal we know we will never reach? We set expectations, but when those 2
expectations are not met we only make ourselves feel unaccomplished.
Expectations are often confused with goals, making them seem less suspicious. The
purpose of a goal is to push us to complete an action, while expectations are something that we
assume will happen. How can an assumption help us at all? A goal could be to complete your
education, work hard, and have a family. However, the moment these goals become an
assumption, we set ourselves up for disappointment. Expectations are ignorance. According to 3
Victoria Leo, any expectation puts the power to “generate emotion” in “someone or something
1 Direct Address 2 Rhetorical Question 3 Metaphor
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else’s hands — not yours.” There are no “safe” or “unsafe” expectations, because any of the
reason in them are, in Leo’s words, “irrelevant.” We become enslaved to the notion that we will
be benefited by our hard work, or that in return for being in a sense “good” we will be
rewarded when in reality there is no guarantee of either of those things ever happening. This is
the tyranny of an expectation . 4
Expectations no matter how reasonable cannot be controlled by your actions, nor your
will, nor your request . They are sneaky, hiding underneath layers of disguise yet are right in 5
front of us, waiting to be seen . It doesn’t matter how hard you try, or how much effort you put 6
in, these presumptions of the future are bound to let you down. We become shackled to these
misleading expectations, and the need to fulfill each and every one of them. This becomes an
impossible task, only infuriating us further. These suppositions become “allpowerful” when left
unchecked, causing distress to you and everyone around you (Moffitt). When we attach
ourselves to a certain outcome, we don’t think about what factors into that outcome, or how these
factors could change. You’re good to life: life is good to you. You’re faithful to God, and God 7 8
owes you for being faithful. These are examples of the delusion that can be derived by
expectations, and they can tyrannize your life.We live in an everchanging world, where
anything could happen in the blink of an eye. So surmising future events only hold us back, and
restrain us from drawing from the present.
4 Short Sentence 5 Polysyndeton 6 Antithesis 7 Chiasmus 8 Allusion
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By eliminating expectations as a whole, we can all succeed in life without undermining
ourselves and succumbing to the weight of our expectations. Many may argue that these
expectations are what drive us to become better, but by erasing these expectations, we also erase
the suffering that occurs from these promises we make to ourselves. It's important to recognize
these toxic expectations, and eliminate them entirely. This will not be an easy task, and requires
effort from all of you. This must be an individual action, and we can not expect others to take
action for us. The only way to escape the plague of expectations, is to free ourselves from them
completely. By doing so, you will realize that your life is full of possibilities, no longer restricted
by the obligations you previously put on yourself,
Expectations are cruelties that ruin your life without you even realizing it. Think about it.
How many times did you expect someone to do something, and when it never happened you
became disappointed? How many times did you expect to receive something, when the ability
for it to happen was not in your hands? Without these pointless promises to yourself, you will be 9
able to live a more content life. You will never be able to live up to each expectation you set for
yourself or others have set for you. You are the only ones who can remove these expectations
from your life. You need to take control of your life and eliminate these beliefs. We can each 10 11
live more fulfilling lives once we remove these burdens from our shoulders.
9 Alliteration 10 Anaphora 11 Imperative
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Works Cited
Leo, Victoria. "Confronting the Tyranny of Expectations." DailyTidings.com. Local Media
Group, Inc., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
Moffitt, Phillip. "The Tyranny of Expectations." The Tyranny of Expectations. Life Balance
Institute, 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
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