Originally Posted by Supple Cow

This reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes strips where Calvin's dad made him do things to build character. Character! Wilbjammin - from my interpretation of this thread, I think can see something positive in what he is saying as well as your point of view. I think that some point along the way, building character (that all-encompassing vague term that it is) lost value in the eyes of America (and maybe that's because "America" started to internalize what the American media was feeding it) and was replaced by more superficial things (and again I am using the term to be vague and whatever you decide to make it). In my opinion, telling people to suck it up when they don't succeed can be just as useless as telling them that they are not invested in their lives. Conversely, both of these messages have their place. Isn't the real discussion here about why or how or when the definitions of "successful" and "valuable" changed?