P

March   20th

READY   AND AT  HOME

“I  may wish    to  be  free    from    torture,    but if  the time    comes   for me  to  endure  it, I’ll    wish    to  bear    it

courageously    with    bravery and honor.  Wouldn’t    I   prefer  not to  fall    into    war?    But if  war does

befall  me, I’ll    wish    to  carry   nobly   the wounds, starvation, and other   necessities of  war.    Neither

am  I   so  crazy   as  to  desire  illness,    but if  I   must    suffer  illness,    I’ll    wish    to  do  nothing rash    or

dishonorable.   The point   is  not to  wish    for these   adversities,    but for the virtue  that    makes

adversities bearable.”

—SENECA,    MORAL   LETTERS,    67.4

resident James Garfield was a great man—raised in humble circumstances, self-educated, and
eventually a Civil War hero—whose presidency was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. In his brief
time in office, he faced a bitterly divided country as well as a bitterly and internally divided Republican
Party. During one fight, which challenged the very authority of his office, he stood firm, telling an adviser:
“Of course I deprecate war, but if it is brought to my door the bringer will find me at home.”
That’s what Seneca is saying here. We’d be crazy to want to face difficulty in life. But we’d be
equally crazy to pretend that it isn’t going to happen. Which is why when it knocks on our door—as it
very well may this morning—let’s make sure we’re prepared to answer. Not the way we are when a
surprise visitor comes late at night, but the way we are when we’re waiting for an important guest:
dressed, in the right head space, ready to go.