>>>But wouldn't it be nice to be in a programmer's retirement (aka paradise): you can write all the code you want, without deadlines and users...
>>
>>Well, paradise is not a place, it is an attitude. I already live there!
>
>Now doesn't that beat one of the axioms of Christianity - that, you know, those who live aren't eligible yet?

Different levels of paradise. If you allow others actions to impact you, you will live in hell long before you die. If you choose to be happy, regardless of what others do, you will live in paradise long before you die. Other people can't "make" you anything, how you internalize their actions can "make" you happy, sad, etc. It's a hard thing to master, and I don't always master it, initially, but at some point I do.