If, when you die, you could choose to be reborn on one of two planets, which of these would you choose?
On the first planet you would be completely safe. You would live in a padded cell with unbreakable windows to keep you protected from your neighbors. On that first planet a guardian angel would ensure you would not be hurt even by your own mistakes. Everything on the planet would be covered with bubble wrap. Every corner would have an opium dispenser in case of the mildest pain. There would be no threats to your existence, but no adventures either. You would die as you lived, comfortably numb.
Or you could choose to be born on a second planet where your mission would be to learn and to teach what it means to be fully human. On that second planet your mission would be to learn and to teach courage, therefore, dangers would be real. On Planet 2, your mission would also be to learn and then teach wisdom. You would be surrounded by propaganda and misinformation so you could learn to filter out untruth. You would seldom have all the information needed to make your most difficult decisions, but you would discover the truths that abide through real life experiences. On Planet 2, there would be very real habits and addictions so you would have to learn to keep your balance. On this planet, people would worship winners and ridicule losers, so you would have to learn not to live in other people’s opinions. You would have to learn to choose justice even when it was costly.
I don’t need to tell you that we have both been born on planet 2. We get to decide whether we will live out our time in search of fleeting trophies, or in developing noble characters. Here on Planet 2 life is not fair, but we get to decide if we will be victims of fate’s unfairness or as ambassadors for the noblest virtues of humankind.