The best thing about living in a society is that a lot of things are guaranteed for you. There is no need to protect your territory, to be stronger or faster or meaner than those you encounter. There is no need to be particularly smart or exceptional, even - a good society supports its members regardless of mediocrity. This is because a citizen may yet find their calling and enrich the society by his existence; or at the very least perpetuate the society and its current culture. The support provided is part of a contract where in exchange the receivers of this support are expected to perform obligations that ensure the continued longevity of the provider.

Upon being born, we are provided support by our State. To me that seems more a debt incurred than anything. Unable to understand the contract, we are still provided for with the expectation that we will pay it back once we are considered to be of age. Feeling entitled to the rights we are told to have is quite the wrong way to think about it. We are mitochondria in the great Cell that is our society.

I wonder if that deadens us somewhat. Because we are in such a structured environment it becomes difficult to adopt a different mentality that is suited for the chaos outside. Even inside, there is still chaos; society is only able to partially tame the wildness of life.  But most of the time we see only what we are comfortable in telling ourselves to see. We impose our wants and fantasies on a world that is largely indifferent, when all that is really guaranteed to us is the journey and not the destination.

Life humbles us, that is a fact. Perhaps it is just luck that we have not been humbled more than others. But the journey - the struggle -  is something fortune cannot take away, so it seems right to be grateful for that. Indeed, it is probably the only thing any of us can call our own.