Born in the wrong era? No. There is no wrong era.

it's very easy to get disappointed.
u expect something, and it doesn't turn out like you expect(usually worse), that's when you get disappointed.
in the english language we have come to use the word 'hope' like we use the word 'wish'. maybe that's the correct way of using it. i'm not sure. i haven't checked the dictionary yet. maybe i'll check it out sometime.
as i was saying, we use the word 'hope' when we want one of the possible outcomes of something to occur, the ones that we like anyway. "i hope that i can enter university", or "i hope he comes back safely", or "i hope i can get that toy".
there's really no assurance in those "hopes". nothing real concrete at least.
that's why in shawshank red says that "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." that's quite possibly true when hope has no assurance.
when "hoped" to the extreme, and let down...to the extreme. i wouldn't be surprised if it drove a person insane.
andy held on to "hope" as a motivation to live through prison life. the possiblity that he could get out and live a normal life; that was enough to keep him going. while i don't deny that hope is a good thing, you'd better be sure about what you're hoping in. for andy's case...it was more like a wish that came true.
real hope is better than that.
thinking back, i still don't know if he had any assurance about his escaping the prison. was it his intelligence that gave him his confidence? or his attitude towards life that helped him to try and remain normal and dignified even in a prison? i'm not sure how. whatever it is, i will agree that it was his "hope" that enabled him to wear his "coat".
Christ's hope is as sure a hope as it gets. what He's promised, that's what we know will come to pass, and that is the christian's hope.
talking about disappointments then, we get let down when we hope in the wrong things and we realise that things don't turn out as we WISHED they would.
what this meanst then, is that we need to learn to have realistic "wishes". "expectations" is a better word here.
when our minds start to wander, and we start wishing for things that'd be far better than what they'd ever be...we're bound to get disappointed(and yet we still wish..).
sometimes, i think it's better to slap ourselves back into reality(tho reality may sometimes surprise us) and not expect the best. that way...when something better(and more likely than what WE would have imagined) happens...we're more inclined to give thanks.
of course, we can also be entirely mature and childish about things. this is the best...in my opinion. we can childishly wish for the best in everything and maturely still be grateful in all things.
even if what we wish for never happens, we still trust in Him who rules. and then there are those instances when what we wish for actually happen, then we grin from ear to ear and remember the one who made it come to pass.
right now, i'm learning to wish for the best, while expecting the worse, and yet still give thanks, come what may.