I feel as though I am waking up.

Here’s the thing.

We are a society of cowards. No one will any longer attempt anything difficult, anything risky. No value is placed any longer in fortitude. We can’t allow ourselves to be offended, confused, or imperiled, even a tiny bit. We organize not just speech but also behavior under the dictum that “no one from amongst the human population should ever be a victim, ever again, least of all myself!”

This, it is said, is utopia.

For a time—a number of years, I also fell under the seductive sway of this sort of thinking. A world without victims! No one ever hurt again! Certainly I want that for myself, and thus for others, too! The view has become the foundation of politics and ethics alike.

And it’s bullshit.

— § —

Enlightenment is difficult. It is difficult because it arrives only through difficulty. Difficulty is painful. Difficulty victimizes. Every victim is a candidate for enlightenment, myself included.

A world without victims is a world composed entirely of unenlightened children.

For myself, I’ve stopped buying into the nonsense. If I am to suffer, then I am to suffer. It’s time to learn and grow. I didn’t realize that I’d joined the global cadre of cowardice, but I believe I had. I refuse to be there any longer.

What will be, will be. What is to do? Live, that’s what.