The idea as applied to your example is that if the kid is pushed around day after day then maybe by the 100th day he'll realise the bullies don't have any _real_ power over him. He'll become resilient to their bullying. If he is smart he'll learn tactics to combat their bullying, be they by avoiding the bullies, talking to them or hitting the gym and learning martial arts. The saying is basically saying the longer you are exposed to setbacks the longer you have to overcome them.

In that regard, if the MtGox demise doesn't take out bitcoin completely the bitcoin that rises will be more wary of exchanges that cannot or will not prove their reserves. There have already been multiple ideas put forth for how this can be done and I think I even saw a post on HN with someone who claims to have implemented one of them.