Kierkegaard Quote

In the paper today was a quote from Kierkegaard, one of my favorite philosophers: "It is a very curious thing about superstition. One would expect that a man who had once seen that his morbid dreams were not fulfilled would abandon them for the future; but on the contrary they grow even stronger just as the love of gambling increases in a man who has lost in a lottery." Strangely enough, I have to disagree with his conclusion. I don't think it's odd at all. Human nature is such that we persevere above and beyond the point of rationality, to get what we want. The more we are thwarted in our endeavors, the harder we seem to try. Maybe because it is a challenge, and if we do indeed succeed, the sweeter the success the harder it was. Or maybe it is that we think that if we keep trying, hoping, wishing, etc., eventually we HAVE to get whatever it is we want. Ignoring the saying that the height of ridiculousness is to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results- from experience we know that sometimes we DO get different results after doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe only once in 100 times, but still, there IS that chance. I think it's one of the things that keeps us going as humans- the ability to hope and to try, beyond all reason.