We All Fall Short

By now, you may have seen the video. A devout religious woman grabs the hand of Pope Francis as he greets the crowd of pilgrims and children. He tries to move on. She refuses to let go. In frustration, he slaps her hand and continues on. It’s not a pretty sight for sure. Especially for a man who has spoken so beautifully about kindness and compassion and humility. To call it “violence” would be an overstatement, but it was rudely out of character—a contradiction of what the man teaches and is supposed to be an example of. But here’s the thing: If you’re surprised and horrified, the problem is not the pope, it’s you. We all fall short. Seneca fell short. Marcus Aurelius fell short. Epictetus did too. Do you think they never lost their tempers? Never did the wrong thing? Ever failed to live up to their impossibly high standards? They, like the pope, like you, are human. Which means flaws. Which means messing up. Which means doing the exact opposite of what you believe and how you want to be (because you’re tired, because you were tempted, because you weren’t thinking). “Is it possible to be free from error?” Epictetus said. “Not by any means, but it is possible to be a person stretching to avoid error.” So don’t be too hard on other people, or even yourself. Accept apologies when given. Offer them readily when necessary. Learn from both other people’s mistakes and your own. And remember Pope Francis’ apology, because it was a wise one: "Love makes us patient. So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday's bad example.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. We all fall short. By now, you may have seen the video: A devout religious woman grabs the hand of Pope Francis as he meets the crowd of pilgrims and children. He tries to move on. She refuses to let go. In frustration, he slaps her hand and continues on. It's not a pretty sight, for sure, especially for a man who has spoken so beautifully about

• 0:51Ryan Holiday?

  kindness and compassion and humility. To call it violence would be an overstatement, but it was rudely out of character, a contradiction of what the man teaches and is supposed to be an example of. But here's the thing: If you're surprised and horrified, the problem is not the Pope, it's you. We all fall short. Seneca fell short, Marcus Aurelius fell short, Epictetus did too. Do you think that they never lost their tempers, never did the wrong thing, ever failed to live up to their own impossibly high standards? They, like the Pope, like you, are human, which means flaws, which means messing up, which means doing the exact opposite of what you believe and how you want to be because you

• 1:35Ryan Holiday?

  are tired, because you are tempted, because you weren't thinking. "Is it possible to be free from error?" Epictetus said. "Not by any means, but it is possible to be a person stretching to avoid error." So don't be too hard on other people or yourself. Accept apologies when given. Offer them readily when necessary. Learn from both other people's mistakes and your own. And remember Pope Francis's apology, because it was a wise one. Love makes us patient. So many times, we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for my bad example.