Erleichda

Whatever else his long, unprecedented life might have been, it had been fun.  Fun!  If others should find that appraisal shallow, frivolous, so be it.  To him, it seemed now to largely have been some form of play.  And he vowed that in the future he would strive to keep that sense of play more in mind, for he'd grown convinced that play--more than piety, more than charity or vigilance--was what allowed human beings to transcend evil.

.... Our individuality is all, all, that we have.  There are those who barter it for security, those who repress it for what they believe is the betterment of the whole society, but blessed in the twinkle of the morning star is the one who nurtures it and rides it, in grace and love and wit, from peculiar station to peculiar station along life's bittersweet route.

from Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins (1984)