When I was in Junior High (Middle School to those belonging to the younger generation), one of my English teachers was a big fan of pop quizzes. One such quiz involved writing a short essay on the saying, “Anticipation is always greater than realization.”
I felt confident addressing this issue because by then I easily could remember all those birthdays and Christmases I’d anticipated the arrival of the magnificent horse of my dreams. And I also clearly remembered my disappointment and how empty and incomplete I felt when my dream horse didn’t arrived.
In retrospect I realized that had the horse arrived, I would have felt far more inadequate than complete because I knew nothing of any practical value about horses and their care. But at that time, I perceived that animal as the universal antidote for all that ailed me in body, mind, and spirit. As I routinely discover in my work, such beliefs about animals are still alive and well, and they’re not only embraced by children.
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