Just as there are laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy, so there are in fact Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy. Neither can ever be created or destroyed. But one can be converted into the other.

How did they manage to make 'you reap what you sow' such a trite-sounding cliche that I'm only just now realizing that I can never get away with anything, and never have? For what twisted reason were I and all my generation told so often of the essential corruption and evil of Man that it took me twenty years to learn to like myself and another ten to begin to love myself?

In 1971, after seven years in college, with that magic piece of paper clutched triumphantly in my fist, the best job I was able to get was night watchman on a sewer project in Babylon, N.Y. guarding a hole in the ground to prevent anyone from stealing it. God bless the American educational system!