The demand that does not soften is the permanent character of the higher standard under residual conditions. The age continually invites the man to lower the standard in the name of realism, compassion, or mere survival. The residual path refuses the invitation. The measure remains what it is. The man either meets it or he does not. There is no intermediate form that preserves the claim of the higher type while relaxing the demand.
Softening appears as practical wisdom. It is in fact the first step of residual dissolution. Once the measure is adjusted to the average condition, the residual path has already been abandoned. The man who keeps the unadjusted demand is already performing the residual act that distinguishes the differentiated individual from the man who merely adapts.
Young men feel the pressure to soften more strongly than previous generations because the surrounding language offers no support for the harder path. The absence of support does not change the nature of the demand. It only clarifies that the residual path is solitary in a more radical sense than earlier paths that still possessed collective forms.
Accept the demand that does not soften. Do not negotiate with the age over the height of the measure. The man who continues to meet the permanent standard under residual pressure is already living the deeper continuity of the type.