The human psyche, like the body, is marvelously resilient. Country bumpkins move to the big city, and within a few years adapt themselves to the cacophony, the smog, and the traffic that overwhelmed them when they first arrived. Less fortunately, they also become inured to the presence of beggars on the sidewalks and the reports of crime in their neigborhood. Even under the most extreme circumstances, men find ways to approximate a normal existence. Astronauts adopt a workaday attitude toward life in outer space.
Doctors preserve their own calm amid the bedlam of the emergency room.
Soldiers in combat grow accustomed to the daily terror of living on intimate terms with violent death. This capacity to adapt is a great blessing, when it allows us to reach beyond our normal limitations. But it can also be a great danger, when it tempts us to accept circumstances which are objectively unacceptable. Yes, we can arrange our lives so that we are not much troubled by the absurdities and even the obscenities that surround us. After a serious physical injury, shock sometimes sets in, masking the need for prompt medical attention.