Yet we were rescued by that fancy, and saved by a myth. - Ursula K. Le Guin

The more defensive a society, the more conformist.

As a fiction writer, I don't speak message. I speak story. Sure, my story means something, but if you want to know what it means, you have to ask the question in terms appropriate to storytelling. Terms such as message are appropriate to expository writing, didactic writing, and sermons—different languages from fiction.
The notion that a story has a message assumes that it can be reduced to a few abstract words, neatly summarized in a school or college examination paper or a brisk critical review.

There's nothing wrong with me...except acute chronic fear.