Now Is The Time For Heroes

It was a decade or so ago, in the depth of the global financial crisis, that the musician and writer Henry Rollins offered a prescription that once again feels relevant. Indeed, it feels relevant because his advice was timeless, and applies in ordinary and extraordinary times alike. It’s advice worth following in times of triumph and great trials. “People are getting a little desperate,” he wrote as unemployment spiked and markets crashed. “People might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being a person you don’t like. There is no better time than now to have a moral and civic backbone. To have a moral and civic true north. This is a tremendous opportunity for you, a young person, to be heroic.”Well, here we are in rough and uncertain times again. People are not showing their best selves. People are scared. For several years in a row now, people have had their true north obscured and disoriented by daily examples of bad leadership—of ego and selfishness and downright incompetence. But, in a way, that doesn’t matter. As Marcus Aurelius said, what other people say or do is not our concern. What matters is what we do. We can choose to see this as a tremendous opportunity. This is a moment to be heroic. To think about others. To serve. To prepare. To keep calm. To reassure. To protect. This is a time to reevaluate our priorities. To ask ourselves what’s important and what we’re working towards. Courage is calling you. Self-discipline is essential. We need your moral and civic backbone. And man, do we need wisdom right now more than ever. We need you to embody those things. We need them right now. 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.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  Now is the time for heroes. It was a decade or so ago in the depths of the global financial crisis that the musician and writer Henry Rollins offered a prescription that once again feels relevant. Indeed, it feels relevant because his advice was timeless and applies in ordinary and extraordinary times alike. It's advice worth following in times of triumph and great trials. "People are getting a little desperate," he wrote, as unemployment spiked and markets crashed. "People might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being a person you don't like. There is no better time," he said, "than now to have a moral and civic backbone, to have a moral

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  and civic true north. This is a tremendous opportunity for you, a young person, to be heroic." Well, here we are in rough and uncertain times again. People are not showing their best selves. People are scared. People have, for several years in a row now, had their true north obscured and disoriented by daily examples of bad leadership, of ego and selfishness, and downright incompetence. But in a way, that doesn't matter. As Marcus Aurelius said, "What other people say or do is not our concern. What matters is what we do." We can choose to see this as a tremendous opportunity. This is a moment to be heroic, to think about

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  others, to serve, to prepare, to keep calm, to reassure, to protect. This is a time to reevaluate our priorities, to ask ourselves what's important and what we're working towards. Courage is calling you. Self-discipline is essential. We need your moral and civic backbone. And man, do we need wisdom right now more than ever. We need you to embody those things. We need them right now.

• 2:26Ryan Holiday?

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