[philothrow]

Undoubtedly true. There was nothing and no one strong to guide Ted through his pain and suffering — and so he became antisocial. This is no different to many other men, who suffer less, but do not adapt to it in a way that is virtuous.

The same can be seen with fatherless boys and men in inner cities. No one is there to guide them through the suffering (sometimes a strong, “masculine” mother will be enough, at the cost of the nurturing element), and they turn to gangs to find guidance.

There are no strong men to guide the suffering. No men that have been brutalized by life, but have learned to move forward without becoming brutalizers themselves.

Maybe; hard times brutalize men. Those that can learn to prosper, even a little, will pass it down to the younger ones. And so the younger ones will still suffer, but less so, and learn to prosper more — and pass it down, and so on. And then through generations of this cycle we will reach good times once again. At which point, there will be no suffering to learn from, at the peak of prosperity, and it will be squandered — repeating the cycle.