I'm reminded of a quote from a very good book: > "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" — is difficult to answer directly. It may be easi

I'm reminded of a quote from a very good book: > "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" — is difficult to answer directly. It may be easier to start with a preliminary: what does everybody agree on? “Madness is rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule,” Nietzsche wrote (before he went mad). If you can identify a delusional popular belief, you can find what lies hidden behind it: the contrarian truth. Tally up the number of people here vigorously (and defensively) arguing for "being happy", "being interesting", "being encouraging" (or anything but "being great") is all that matters, and you will get a very large number. It's really, really hard to make an outsized contribution to humanity. So the consensus response to this is "well, but it doesn't really matter: just be happy". This cultural meme is extremely harmful to us all. People shouldn't be shunned for trying to do something great and failing. But we shouldn't go too far and say "well, as long as you're happy, you're not blameworthy". If you have a gift, you should use it for good. Your comfort is not the only thing that matters.