Faith is a never-ending pool of clarity, reaching far beyond the margins of consciousness. We all know more than we know we know. - Thornton Wilder

The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape.

I think that it can be assumed that no adults are ever really 'shocked' - that being shocked is always a pose.

Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of this earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only wounded soldiers can serve.