That nice, warm feeling you're carrying over from Thanksgiving? That fullness after your big family get-together? From the meal, from the company, from all of it?
It's important that you realize not everyone is feeling that right now.
In fact, many people are experiencing the exact opposite. More than 47 million people in America face hunger, including nearly 14 million children (that's 1 in 5 children—1 in 5!). It's tragic…and it's preventable…and it's getting worse. With the recent government shutdown, federal cuts to programs that help food-insecure families, and an interruption in SNAP benefits, families are struggling and so are the organizations and the heroes that serve them.
You might be thinking: What can I do about it? This is a huge, complex, economic, political and cultural issue…what can one person do? Stoicism is about focusing on what's in my control, why should I lose sleep over it?
Because, as Marcus Aurelius wrote, those suffering humans are us, and we are them. To allow harm to come to them—through indifference, through callousness, through despair—is to allow harm to come to ourselves. It's why the most magnificent moment of Marcus's reign was not when he conquered on the battlefield but instead the day he decided to sell off the palace furnishings to keep Rome going during the Antonine Plague—to help those in need.
Hierocles was a Roman Stoic who spoke of "circles of concern." Our first concern, he said, was our mind and our bodies, followed by our immediate family, then our extended family. Like concentric rings, these circles were followed by our concern for our community, our city, our country, our empire, our world. The work of Stoicism, he said, was to draw this outer concern inward, to learn how to care as much as possible for as many people as possible, to do as much good for them as possible. This is our obligation. That's what the good life was–doing good for the common good.
So today, Black Friday, when some other people might go line up to get a deal on an absurdly large TV, gorge on leftovers and football, or spend hours shopping sales online, let us instead put our energy towards helping the less fortunate. Let us help people from going hungry. Let us alleviate someone's worry and fear. Let us put food on their table.
Instead of doing a big sale or talking about one of our own projects, we've spent the last several years using Black Friday to talk about other people in need. Together, we've raised $1 million dollars for hungry people all over the country. How amazing is that? You did that.We did that together. We can do more, too. Head over to dailystoic.com/feeding to donate right now. Together, we can make a small dent in a big problem. We can't alleviate everyone's suffering or struggle, but for the people we can help, the difference is huge.
So let's do it. Let's be good Stoics today. Let's fulfill our obligation.
P.S. If you live outside the U.S., check out Action Against Hunger—the global humanitarian organization that fights against hunger across nearly 50 countries.
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