The Daily Stoic - You Don’t Have To Be Lucky, You Just Have To Be Good

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Starting point is 00:01:16 designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life each one of these episodes is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women to help you learn from them to follow in their example and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom for more visit dailystoic.com You don't have to be lucky, you just have to be good. Not everyone finds themselves in a position to reveal some world-changing government secret. Not everyone is there when somebody falls into the water and can't swim. Not everyone was born to be emperor in a time of crisis, as Mark's realis was,

Starting point is 00:02:19 or an elected official in a moment of great consequence, as Cato was. Sociologists and historians speak of something called moral luck. This is what Churchill was referring to when he noted, sadly, of the Earl of Rosebury, that the man lived in an age of great men and small events. We don't all have the chance to be heroes on a grand scale. We don't all get tapped on the shoulder by destiny, as Churchill was. But the Stoics would say that there is no such thing as small events, that we all have a chance, indeed an obligation to get involved.

Starting point is 00:02:53 involved in the issues of our time and try to make a positive difference wherever it is in our control. And besides, Churchill's assessment of that period was laughably inaccurate. Rosebury lived from 1847 to 1929. Slavery was still rampant around the world for the entirety of his life working conditions in England's factories were heinous and awful. Britain's colonial system and all its abuses carried on with few objections. The Irish question loomed over British politics and most leaders believed it was hopeless. Countries regularly went to war for a little reason and with little thought to the people affected. Millions starved. Millions were abused. Countless things went uninvented, unreformed, and unchampioned. And the same is true for the moment we

Starting point is 00:03:42 are in right now. Depending on where you live or what you do, things may seem relatively calm or even sunny. But the world was just rocked by a pandemic that killed millions. What did you do to help? income inequality, climate change, disruptive technologies like AI loom before us. Fascism is on the rise globally. More locally, there are people who are hungry, people who need a second chance, people who could use a friend, kids who need to be adopted, students who need mentorship, local offices that could be filled, abuses that could be called out. Are you doing anything about this? It doesn't matter whether the events are big or small. What matters is if if you are a big or a small person, a brave and a just or a cowardly and a selfish person.

Starting point is 00:04:30 How are you helping? What are you doing? How are you acting like a stoic as opposed to just being stoic? You can make your own moral luck. In fact, you must. And basically, this is where two of the books in the Virtue series come together. Courage is calling and right thing right now. One was the first book in the series.

Starting point is 00:04:49 One was the third. But the idea is that we don't need to wait for these big, moments to make a difference. We can get involved. We can do things. We can decide to be a great person and involved in great defense. Or we can be a great person making a difference in a small way. It doesn't really matter. The point is we don't sit on the sidelines and wait can tap ourselves on the shoulder. If you want to grab signed copies of Courage's Calling or Right Thing Right Now, you can do that from the Daily Sox Store. We even have signed copies of Discipline and Destiny and Wisdom takes work. I'll sign all four books in the series or you can grab them on

Starting point is 00:05:21 audible anywhere you want. I don't care. But I think this virtue stuff is important. And I think you'll like the series.

The Daily Stoic - You Don’t Have To Be Lucky, You Just Have To Be Good

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