The Daily Stoic - Thoughts and Prayers are not Enough

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

The cycle would be almost humorous by now if it were not so sad. Politicians who have sat idly by, not doing their jobs to address the vexing, pressing problems of our time, rush in when tragedy strikes. Whether it’s a natural disaster that caught a city off guard, or another senseless mass shooting, these folks are there—or rather are there on Twitter—to offer their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims. Then, of course, the crowd shoots back, “That’s not enough!”Let us unravel this according to the Stoics. First, there’s nothing wrong with thoughts and prayers, per se, particularly if they are heartfelt. However, they aren’t remotely sufficient to solve most political or social problems. And yet, yelling at the people offering them is its own hollow form of virtue signaling too. While the Stoics did talk about the importance of acceptance and about our limited control of the world around us, they would reject this modern rejection of our own agency. They would be disappointed in our learned helplessness. The obstacles of life—be they in politics or the environment or the actions of evil doers—require action. They require effort. They require that we seize what’s in our control to affect change and improve the status quo. When Rome’s borders were threatened, Marcus Aurelius didn’t simply send his prayers to the citizens who were killed. No, he led an army to defend them. When a plague struck Rome, he didn’t flee the city and then come back to speak at funerals. He braved the terrible conditions, doing everything he could to stop the dying. Whether he was successful or not is almost secondary to the fact that he at least tried. Because that’s what a Stoic does. We take action. We organize. We vote. We try to solve problems. We try to prevent problems from happening again. And if the leaders we’ve elected aren’t going to help with that—meaning they’re part of the problem themselves—we don’t just yell or complain about it and demand that they do better...we set about solving for that too. We do better. We make sure they do too.No one is coming to save us. But we can save ourselves.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. The cycle would be almost humorous by now if it were not so sad. Politicians who have sat idly by not doing their jobs

to address the vexing pressing problems of our time rush in when tragedy strikes. Whether it's a natural disaster that caught a city off guard or another senseless mass shooting, these folks are there, or rather they are there on Twitter to offer their thoughts and prayers to the victims. And then of course, the crowd shoots back, that's not enough. Let us unravel this according to the Stokes. First, there's nothing wrong with

thoughts and prayers per se, particularly if they are heartfelt. However, they aren't remotely sufficient to solve most political or social problems. And yet, yelling at the people offering them is its own hollow form of virtue signaling too. While the Stokes did talk about the importance of acceptance and our own limited control of the world around us, they would reject this modern rejection of our own agency.

They would be disappointed in our learned helplessness. The obstacles of life, be they in politics or the environment or the actions of evil doers, require action. They require effort. They require us seizing what's in our control to affect change and improve the status quo. When Rome's borders were threatened, Marcus really simply didn't send his prayers to the citizens who were killed, no he led an army to defend them. When a plague struck Rome, he didn't flee the city and then come

back to speak at funerals. He braved the terrible conditions, doing everything he could to stop the dying. Whether he was successful or not is almost secondary to the fact that he at least tried. Because that's what Aesthetic does. We take action. We try to solve problems. We organize. We vote. We try to prevent problems from happening again. And if the leaders we've elected aren't going to help with that,

meaning they are part of the problem themselves, we don't just yell or complain about it, or demand that they do better. We set about solving for that too. We do better and we make them do better. It's our job too. No one is coming to save us, but we can save ourselves. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen early and

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