From Kunstler's online memoirs:

The main difference between the person I was before and the one I became after is that I came to understand how much I was responsible for what happened to me in all aspects of my life, and responsible too for how I felt about what happened to me. In fact, I learned that mostly things don't just happen to us. We make choices to act, or to not act, and that makes all the difference in the world. Here you are in the world. What will you do?