Strength is the capacity to break a Hershey bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.

The joke redefines “strength” as restraint. Breaking the candy bar into four pieces suggests deliberate planning and the illusion of control—portioning as a strategy—while the punchline exposes how difficult true moderation is. By contrasting “bare hands” (a symbol of force and capability) with the far subtler challenge of eating only one piece, Viorst highlights that the hardest victories are often internal: resisting impulse, delaying gratification, and accepting “enough.” The humor softens a serious point about willpower and habit, implying that moralizing about discipline misses how powerfully desire and comfort-seeking shape everyday behavior.