Voices: Emotional Physics

We've known for a week it would happen, but it's finally official.



Princess Britney has joined the caravan of cancelled acts that have detoured instead of coasting in to Montage Mountain's Ford Pavilion on schedule.



As e.c.'s Gene Padden pointed out as soon the knee surgery news broke, simulated sex acts lose something when the dancer is plodding about in a leg brace. That's just not the plastic ticket buyers are paying to see bounce around.



Disappointment has surely hit her preteen fans the hardest, however, as they realize their idol isn't talented enough to pull off a gyration-free performance.



Whether you care about Britney Spears or not, some turn of events has surely let you down lately.



It's inescapable.



Disappointment is the great equalizer. Rich or poor, young or old, communist or capitalist, gay or straight, Caucasian or colorful - no one is exempt. Even those who aim low and set their expectations even lower can't hide from disappointment.



Boyle Roche called it "the nurse of wisdom." I'm still thinking about that one.



No matter how many times we're disappointed in life, it doesn't get easier. There are no calluses. Like stubbing a toe - it's going to hurt every time no matter how many times you do it. Tears may not flow like they did in kindergarten when you dropped your first double scoop of ice cream on the scorched summer sidewalk, but didn't you feel just as bad that time you got bad service and an even worse meal at your favorite restaurant? Say a friend stands you up and you forgive him. Aren't you even more disappointed then when he repeats the performance?




I suppose there's wisdom in being able to put any particular disappointment in scale with the big picture.



Britney Schmitney. I'm far more disappointed, for example, that the man entrusted to lead our country has alienated so many of his fellow countrymen that perfectly sane political minds will scolding anyone who's dared admit thinking about voting for a third party.



Yet it's even worse that the world's shining example of democracy has been mired for decades in a two-party rut that demands everyone fall into one specific category or the other.



But let's go out on a limb. Here's a theory entirely improvable yet absolutely accurate. Think along the lines of karmic justice, the yin and yang of the cosmos, and Newton's 3rd law - every action has an equal and opposite reaction.



It's perfectly logical to assume balance will be the ultimate result, that each and every disappointment results in an equal and opposite -



Uh-oh... what's the opposite of disappointment?



My thesaurus says "satisfaction," "fulfillment," and "happiness," are appropriate antonyms but all three leave something to be desired, don't they?



Disappointment contains an element of surprise. There's a jolt because you just didn't expect such results. That's half the problem, right? When you prepare for the worst, you aren't as disappointed when things do go wrong because it didn't sneak up and pinch your behind.



"Poetic justice" might do the trick. For example: Mary J. Blige's disgusting rendering of "What I Did for Love" at this year's Tony Award show was somehow balanced by the alternatively quirky "Avenue Q" winning "Best Musical" over the mainstream "Wicked." Or how about Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" winning Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival and getting released next week in spite of the roadblocks put up by corporate and conservative censors. Ha! Anytime the worthy, but disadvantaged dog gets the bone that's the opposite of disappointment.



It's not likely that Clear Channel will book (insert that really cool act you've been dying to see here) any time soon. But somewhere out there the balance is being restored.Besides, David Bowie rocked hard enough to replace Britney threefold. The wisdom lies in leaving the spilled milk where it lies and going out with a friend for cocktails.



-- Alicia Grega-Pikul, June 17, 2004



Send e-mail to: apikul@timesshamrock.com.