269

We do this not only so that we can be ready, but also so that we will have the willpower to figure out what to do when we are not ready.

268

Are we being present? Or are we being ignorant?

Are we being mindful? Or are we overthinking?

There is a mistake lying around every corner, and there is often no way to tell.

And that is the point.

267

What drives me to do what I do day by day?

Because I said I would do it. And there is no greater shame than having to admit I couldn’t keep my own word, let alone someone else’s.

266

We are all stronger than we think.

But only if we believe we are.

265

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.”

― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

264

I am just as amazed as I am appalled, as I am amused by this existence, by this world I live in.

263

Yes—the world depends on you.

Because you are a part of us.

It’s all too easy to dismiss our contribution to change when we see it only possible through collective effort, yet we forget that the collective effort merely consists of a collection of individuals constantly thinking to themselves: “what can I do to be the change I seek to make?” It’s only possible because we each play our part in moving the ratchet forward.

262

Stoicism isn’t self-help.

It’s humanity-help—and you are helped because you are a part of it, just like everyone else around you.

It’s simply about understanding that we each have a role to play, and that we cannot fulfill the duties of our role if we wallow in our own misery. We can move forward, regardless of we each personally might feel.

261

Too much to remember, and even more left to do.

What more could I ask for?

260

Just as we should not overburden ourselves with the innumerable tragedies and injustices that pervade us in this world we live in,

we should neither block them out by shuttering our minds with complacency, or by turning our backs towards ones crying out for help.

We need not empathize with those that suffer unjustly to the extent that it drags down our own psyche. But whether or not we hear those cries for help, regardless of how desperate we might perceive the situation to be, it does not change the fact that we have a calling. It does not change the course of action, and the course of action is always to do better—and to be better. To not approach the world and the others around us with presumptuousness and contempt, but rather with an eagerness to do what’s right and discover the truth together.