slow death

the most painful frustration does not follow an outright failure, something impossible to avoid because we'd pushed our efforts to the limit and yet we couldn't prevent it from failing. the true and painful frustration follows the downfall of something (or someone) when we are aware that so much more could be done. true frustration is caused not by the futility of our efforts, but by our sheer lack of will.

in the end, it's a slow death.