With a little maturity, one can easily absorb an insult, a wrong, or misfortune; but not guilt. When a man, against his will, must endure life’s bitterness, he may initially groan, feel the harm suffered, the loss, the unhappiness; but all of this fades with time when the responsibility falls on an external agent. Suffering, therefore, neither tortures nor takes root. Something very different happens when one knows oneself to be responsible for the harm, especially if it has claimed more than one victim. Here, it is no longer possible to take comfort in accepting something one could not control: the mistake leaves a mark, less by exposing one’s imperfect nature than by establishing one as the author of the unwanted act—forever. One cannot accept it because, unlike in the other case, this act says something about one’s individuality that cannot be suppressed or avoided.