Life has circumstances that we must face, in relation to loving those who are not kind, unfortunately nowadays if you lower your head, they destroy you, we have to go through life on the defensive, human beings are increasingly bad, Or maybe it always has been, what happens is that technology leaves everything exposed.
Asking GOD for protection and having faith always works, there is no doubt about that.
Humans are callous. More reason we need to be brave. Life can be unpleasant sometimes too that's why we need our mental strength. Like you said, if we lower our heads, we might get crushed. We need to keep our heads up all the time and trust God in everything.