A
July 24th
SOMEWHERE SOMEONE’S DYING“Whenever disturbing news is delivered to you, bear in mind that
no news can ever be relevant to your reasoned choice. Can anyone
break news to you that your assumptions or desires are wrong? No
way! But they can tell you someone died—even so, what is that to
you?”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.18.1–2well-meaning friend might ask you today: “What do you think about
[insert tragedy from the other side of the world]?” You, in your equally
well-meaning concern, might say, “I just feel awful about it.”
In this scenario, both of you have put aside your reasoned choice
without doing a single thing for the victims suffering from the actual
tragedy. It can be so easy to get distracted by, even consumed by, horrible
news from all over the world. The proper response of the Stoic to these
events is not to not care, but mindless, meaningless sympathy does very
little either (and comes at the cost of one’s own serenity, in most cases). If
there is something you can actually do to help these suffering people, then,
yes, the disturbing news (and your reaction to it) has relevance to your
reasoned choice. If emoting is the end of your participation, then you ought
to get back to your own individual duty—to yourself, to your family, to
your country.