"Ecstasy & Violence: Risk & Challenge"

In Rollo May's 1972 book, "Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence," May wrote a chapter called "Ecstasy and Violence" where he explains man's attraction to the ecstasy or excitement surrounding violence and how this snaps us out of our mundane and "over-sterilized" modern environments. At the end of this chapter, he shares the story of a WWII combat veteran who returns to Europe to speak with some of his former comrades about their lives during the war--and how things changed in a negative way after the war. Yes, negative way "after" the war because their ecstasy of life had vaporized due to the lack of risk and challenge in comparison to the war. Many have written that real life begins on the edge of death--here are some related thoughts according to Rollo May and how we can position that our recent removal of reasonable risks and challenges the last few decades have set up a generation of American youth to become "more violent" in their quest to feel alive. #thelongroad