Until I read Anne Frank's diary, I had found books a literal escape from what could be the harsh reality around me. After I read the diary, I had a fresh way of viewing the both literature and the world. From then on, I found I was impatient with books that were not honest or that were trivial and frivolous.
The harsh reality is this: to have influence in the world, you need to be willing and able to reward your friends and punish your enemies.
A lot of independent films offer a harsh reality check.
A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don't allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines.
It's a good harsh reality, because my family keeps me very grounded.
As so often happened during the dot-com bubble days, the revenues that AOL and PurchasePro were counting on did not materialize. And instead of confronting that harsh reality, AOL and PurchasePro cooked up a scheme to inflate PurchasePro's revenues.
Mixing humour and harsh reality is a very human behaviour, it's the way people stay sane in their daily lives.
When I was a child, I would draw these little stick-figures, and my mom would put them up all over the loft and tell me how wonderful they were. Then you get out there into the harsh reality of the world, and you realize not everybody loves every little thing you do the way your mom did.
For some time, destitution has been a harsh reality for asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees who are unable to access mainstream accommodation and support. Delays in the asylum and appeals process can leave them in limbo for years without money, shelter, and advice.
The harsh reality is that socialism not only destroys economic freedom, it severely limits the capability of everyone to reach maximum potential. It's a system that doesn't provide more, but instead vastly less.
