The Daily Stoic - You Don't Need Everyone, Just More

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

“It’d be wonderful if we could get everyone on board. If evidence and data and civic duty convinced people to do the right thing, the smart thing, the selfless thing. It feels like we’re living through a unique era for this kind of dissonance and denialism, but the reality is that since even before Marcus Aurelius' time, getting everyone on board for the right thing has been impossible.”Ryan explains why you can’t expect everyone to do the right thing, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@daily_stoic 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 Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. on music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom every day life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of histories, greatest men and women.

For more, you can visit us at dailystealup.com. You don't need everyone just more. It would be wonderful if we could get everyone on board if evidence and data and civic duty convinced people to do the right thing, the smart thing, the selfless thing. It feels like we're living through a unique era for this kind of dissonance and denialism, but the reality is that even before Marcus are really this time, getting everyone on board for the right thing has been impossible. As Marcus writes in meditations, when you meet a shameless or selfish person, you have to understand a certain percentage of the world is made up of such people. You don't have to despair. You don't even have to try to change them. You can just take some

solace in remembering that this person is one member of a minority. And today, as America and the world rush to safely vaccinate against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, these vaccines, the result of exactly the kind of collective brilliant work for the common good that the Stoics cheered. It's inevitable that we will bump into some folks who are resistant to participate and sometimes even downright aggressive with their ignorance. The polite phrase for this mindset is vaccine hesitancy, but it really doesn't matter what you call it or what people's reasons are. A certain percentage of the world is made up of such people. We don't have to despair. We don't have to try to convince the unconvincible.

Move the unmovable or change the unchangeable. Remember, the stoke focuses on where they can make a difference, where their efforts register. Why beat your head against the wall trying to convert everybody when there's plenty of somebody's, the elderly, the technologically challenged, the disabled, who won a vaccine, but need help getting one. There's a young woman in Texas who helped 600 people

get their vaccines. There are two other women in Austin who did the same. Less newsworthy are the countless people who drove their parents, who gave their employees paid time off, who texted a friend, who did the same. Less newsworthy are the countless people who drove their parents, who gave their employees paid time off, who texted a friend, who showed their neighbor. Did they convince the recalcitrant that they persuade the selfish not to be selfish?

No, not yet. Anyway, because in the meantime, there are plenty of willing people you can make a difference for. A stoic doesn't need to get everyone on board, with stoicism, with the four virtues with anything really. We focus instead on those who want to be reached. We focus on helping as many people as we can instead of despairing that we can't reach everyone. After all, herd immunity

doesn't require a hundred percent participation, whether it's against a virus, a panic, or plain old ignorance, just requires enough. And luckily, if we work hard enough, we can get there. So please, do the work, get your vaccine, help other people. Don't despair just because there's some ignorant folks out there, but try to reach and help the people who want to be reached. It makes a difference. be reached, it makes a difference.