“Human nature is constructed in such a way that you end up learning much more from suffering than from a life of ease.”
José Mujica, nicknamed Pepe Mujica, was President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former Tupamaros freedom fighter in the 60s and the 70s, he was detained, like a hostage by the dictatorship between 1973 and 1985. He advocates a philosophy of life focused on sobriety: learn to live with what is necessary and fairest.
Against the Grain 
“Can it be? Can it truly be?” “Can what be”, you sagely ask? “A Wise man”, I say; “a Wise man truly found!” “What? Where? A Wise man? No!”, you exclaim, “A Wise man?” “It is true”, I say. “A Wise man in Uruguay.” “In Uruguay? On Earth? A Wise man on Earth, found?”, you exclaim. “A Wise man on Earth in Uruguay”, I exclaim. “In Uruguay – Uruguay? A farmer, then? Or, prisoner perhaps? Yes. Yes. A farmer or a prisoner would make the most sense, as unlikely as even that would be, it’d still hold the highest odds. But found? Existent? A Wise man? A farmer or a prisoner, it’d have to be! But truly Real? And known?”, you inquire further. “Yes, yes”, I say. “Both. A farmer and a prisoner, too. And real”, I add. “Ah! A farmer and a prisoner, too!”, you exclaim. “Yes, yes”, responding to yourself and, “That makes even more sense, it’d have to be both! Neither one nor the other would stand a chance, and I stand corrected on the prior odds! A farmer and a prisoner, too! But the odds, though greater, are still thin, though the best to be found
“Yes. And a president, too. A farmer and a prisoner and a president, too”, I add rejoicingly. Struck by the Reality of the truth of it now, you drop like a burlap sack full of sand on the seat of your pants. And weep. And I with you.
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