Digital to Easy?

Spent the night in the dark breathing in chemicals and awash in D-76 and fixer. The thought occurred to me that digital might be TO EASY. People often say to me " Why do you still use film? digital is so much easier! Why do you work in the darkroom? photoshop and printers are easier they are faster and cleaner!"

I have been thinking of the whole easy thing. If you are able to make photographs easy is that a good or bad thing? Should you not have to pay your dues, to work through tough and difficult darkroom sessions, should you not be forced to re-shoot missed photographs. Is it not important to learn from these difficulties? to overcome them and then grow as an artist as a result.

If things are to easy and to fast and to simple, have you not lost an opportunity to follow in a more traditional path and grow because of it?

It is sort of like the rich boy who is handed everything and the poor boy who has to earn it on his own. Who in the end will appreciate the journey more? Is not using the road less traveled the better way to go?

The discipline required to do some thing the hard way teaches us valuable lessons that we miss out when we go the easy route.