A

February    26th

TO  EACH    HIS OWN

“Another    has done    me  wrong?  Let him see to  it. He  has his own tendencies, and his own affairs.

What    I   have    now is  what    the common  nature  has willed, and what    I   endeavor    to  accomplish  now

is  what    my  nature  wills.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS,   MEDITATIONS,    5.25

braham Lincoln occasionally got fuming mad with a subordinate, one of his generals, even a friend.
Rather than taking it out on that person directly, he’d write a long letter, outlining his case why they
were wrong and what he wanted them to know. Then Lincoln would fold it up, put the letter in the desk
drawer, and never send it. Many of these letters survive only by chance.
He knew, as the former emperor of Rome knew, that it’s easy to fight back. It’s tempting to give them a
piece of your mind. But you almost always end up with regret. You almost always wish you hadn’t sent
the letter. Think of the last time you flew off the handle. What was the outcome? Was there any benefit?