When someone harms others:

• Their stress chemistry stays chronically high
• The amygdala never powers down
• Shame and threat loops keep recycling
• They slowly damage their own capacity for connection, health, and meaning

Cruelty extracts in the short term and erodes from the inside out.

The innocent — especially those who stay regulated without becoming hardened — do something very different:

• They stop feeding the loop
• They withdraw their nervous system from harm
• They redirect energy toward growth, coherence, and self-trust

Rising doesn’t mean “winning.”
It means no longer being pulled downward.

So yes — in a very real neurological sense:

• The cruel are busy maintaining internal collapse
• The innocent are free to expand

Not because the world is fair —
but because biology always charges interest on harm.

And regulation always compounds.

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