If suffering leads to greater realism and self knowledge, then why are so many people made worse off by their suffering? Simply put, we have become too spoiled by the fruits of modern civilization. Our minds and bodies have grown soft and unprepared to deal with the sufferings of life. Pain is now hated much more than was the case for earlier humans. One speaks much worse of it as a result of our pathological oversensitivity when suffering does ariseMany of us turn to drugs, alcohol or the alluring glow of screens to distract ourselves. But in always trying to escape, deny or mask our suffering, we fail to harvest its value.