Barely did I ever receive any sympathy in those nearly twenty years and I will continue to do without it now.

[ He doesn't want it, Owen, and he isn't going to ask for it. Even if that is what life is, how can he bear it forever? Why will nothing salve the pain and soothe how angry he is at it? ]

But yes, that is just how it goes. I'm hardly the only person around struggling or suffering from some woe or another.