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 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. 📢 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  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 Stoics. First, there's nothing wrong with thoughts and prayers, per se, particularly if they are heartfelt. However, they aren't remotely

• 1:10Ryan Holiday?

  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 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 evildoers, require action. They require effort. They require us seizing what's in our control to effect change and improve the status quo. When Rome's borders

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  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 them. 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 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,

• 2:35Ryan Holiday?

  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/email.