Originally Posted by JLarson

Pretty good post, and don't misunderstand my point. I'm not saying most people today aren't soft - I'm saying the necessity of being other than soft is largely gone. Our society (here in the US) is no longer driven by subsistence farming. I also know that if you started putting the screws to society, through war or famine or plague, you'd see a large number of people die off; and then you'd see a large number rise to the challenge.
(Also, FYI, I worked in construction for 14 years starting at age 12. I've done pretty terrible work in pretty terrible conditions and did it for a long time. My dad's mantra was "Larson's don't call in sick, they crawl in sick." I have no illusions - it wasn't like a 3rd world country. I didn't risk malaria or invasive parasites. But my work ethic comes because my parents placed on me the expectation that I would have a job, or I'd be out of the house.)

My point with all of these posts is that people are a product of their environments, for good or for ill.