L

August 2nd

WE CAN WORK ANY WAY

“Indeed, how could exile be an obstacle to a person’s own

cultivation, or to attaining virtue when no one has ever been cut

off from learning or practicing what is needed by exile?”

—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 9.37.30–31, 9.39.1

ate in his life, after a surgery, Theodore Roosevelt was told he might be
confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his days. With his
trademark ebullience, he responded, “All right! I can work that way too!”
This is how we can respond to even the most disabling turns of fate—by
working within whatever room is left. Nothing can prevent us from
learning. In fact, difficult situations are often opportunities for their own
kinds of learning, even if they’re not the kinds of learning we’d have
preferred.
Musonius Rufus, for his part, was exiled three times (twice by Nero and
once by Vespasian), but being forcibly expelled from his life and his home
didn’t impinge on his study of philosophy. In his way, he responded by
saying “All right! I can work that way too.” And he did, managing to
squeeze in some time between exiles with a student named Epictetus and
thus helping to bring Stoicism to the world.