Disappointment is the stuff bad dreams are made of, dreams of failure, inadequacy, loss of position and good repute. The essence of success is that there"s never enough of it to go around in a zero-sum game where one person"s winning must be offset by another"s losing. We have been growing up in a nation where, according to the gospel of a famous football coach, winning is not the most important thing—it is the only thing. To lose, to fail, to go under, to go broke—these are deadly sins in a world where prosperity in the present is seen as a sure sign of salvation in the future. In a different society, your disappointment due to the final grade B might be something you could shrug away. But not in ours.