No Pain, No Gain

People always say that life's trials and tribulations build character. Does that mean that those who don't face great challenges -- and I ask with the knowledge that "great challenges" is a subjective term -- won't have strong characters? In other words, if one goes through life with love and support, and excellent health, is it possible for that person to become good and noble? I suppose "strong", "good", and "noble" are also subjective terms, as is "character", for that matter. I thought about this earlier today as I considered the saying, "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Are both of these adages simply words people say and think to assuage their own or someone else's suffering? (By the way, I'm not thinking about this in the context of my surgical recovery, but just in general. My mind tends to drift off on weird tangents.)

While this idea of growth through suffering may make life easier for (or at least give a sense of purpose to) sufferers of various emotional and physical pain, I wonder about two things: Does it give people a need to exaggerate their suffering and subsequent overcoming it? Does it make people feel that if they haven't suffered extensively, they don't deserve the good things they have in life? I do know that even those who appear to have more privileges than we do also have their struggles. People really aren't all that different, despite superficial dissimilarities. I'm not sure where I'm going with any of this, just musing.