One truth that recent experiences have illuminated for me. Adversity tends to prompt people to try to live as one lives. The absence of a minimal existence can sometimes make the normal life a desideratum. This is valuable to the degree that these norms are useful. But the point is to continue the work regardless of resources or social position. To do this, it would seem that any notion that social position or material resources are determinative of capacity or mindset would have to be guarded against. Life conceived as a struggle against the pains of poverty is a poor life even, and perhaps especially, when it prevails.
