| Corruption. Dysfunction. Wildfires. Measles. War in the Middle East. In Ukraine. Political chaos. Economic instability Could it get any worse? Yes, yes it could. You could be alive in Cato's time—amidst 'the dregs of Romulus' as Cicero would put it. You could be living through the decline and fall, as Marcus Aurelius did. You could have watched Rome burn, as Seneca literally did. You could be alive when everyone had measles…and tuberculosis and typhus and malaria and yellow fever and God knows what else. Just a few generations ago, the whole world went to war! Millions of people died in trenches and of disease and then starvation. And then you know what happened? Twenty-one years later, they decided to do it again, but worse! Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now, as the Hamilton song goes. Right now instead of then. Instead of any other time. For all the stupidity, for all the disasters, for all the noise and uncertainty, this is actually one of the least bad moments to ever exist. But you know what the Stoics would also point out? It wouldn't matter either way because this is when you exist. You don't get to pick. You don't get a say. This moment is your moment. This brief period is your time on earth. The only thing you have a say over is how you spend it, who you are inside it. You make your own luck in that sense. So don't curse these crazy times. Make something of them. While you still can. *** | 
No comments:
Post a Comment