Thanks @josediccus, it came from the idea at bottom: "What's worth doing doesn't yield its secrets instantly." That is, there is value in hardship, difficulty, suffering: when it is properly understood. If we are human gems, it is the process of going from rough and uncut to shimmering, actualized. Vaguely behind this is the acceptance of the fact that humans are mortal and thus, when we perish from this form we hand off the extent of our achievements to the next generation to take up where we left off.