People that grow up with poverty, oppressive political regimes, and severe climates are examples of people with mental toughness. Africans as a group know a lot about poverty, and the situation in Sudan is an intense example. People from eastern Europe, Russians, people from former Soviet republics have mental toughness because they have dealt with communism. People from northern Finnland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Siberia, and Alaska can tell you all about physical hardship. The list goes on. Americans except for war times, have had not had to deal much with these problems. The current recession has affected us all to some degree, but to hear people talk about it is more depressing than the reality.

The point I am trying to make is that as people we are realatively soft. We expect a lot.