But, Wally, don’t you see that comfort can be dangerous? I mean, you like to be comfortable and I like to be comfortable too, but comfort can lull you into a dangerous tranquility.  — My Dinner With Andre

Having things go too easily for too long is a trap.  Not everything needs to be a struggle, but if nothing is a struggle, I stop learning and I stop trying.  I don’t want to be pulling my hair out every day, but I need a challenge to keep my focus.  Otherwise, the littlest distraction pulls me off to some tangent, and I don’t get done what needs doing.

You can expand this to society as a whole, I think.  When things are going well and everyone is in a comfortable situation, we find things to squabble about and cheap entertainment to occupy our time.  When we aren’t worried about some common problem or goal, we quibble about how people speak.  When we aren’t worried about putting food on the table, we find ways to entertain ourselves that usually involve watching television shows about the trials and tribulations of people who deserve everything that happens to them.