My theory is that hope is a form of madness. A benevolent one, sure, but madness all the same. Like an irrational superstition-broken mirrors and so forth-hope's not based on any kind of logic, it's just unfettered optimism, grounded in nothing but faith in things beyond our control.
Sometimes life's lessons may not be easily labeled; and we may not understand simply because we are too close to the situation (emotionally). Bad things and tragedy strike all around us with no obvious reasons but somewhere in this "the phoenix will rise from the ashes".
Given a choice between goose egg and heartache, I would choose heartache.
You will never know what you are doing until and unless you have done it.