ON the Prowl On this Labor Day W-End 2023: #RandomThoughts

 

Let no one think that flexibility and a predisposition to compromise is a sign of weakness or a sell-out. - Paul Kagame The boldness of asking deep questions may require unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers. - Brian Greene Those who can see value only in tradition,... deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances. - Stephen Bayley In science the important thing is to modify and change one's ideas as science advances. - Herbert Spencer Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics. There are times that call for repetition and perseverance; and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing. The challenge is knowing one from the other. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The Stoics stood out in Athens. They stood out in Rome. Whether it was Cato walking around barefoot or Cleanthes proudly doing manual labor. Whether it was Seneca practicing his poverty or Marcus Aurelius reading during gladiatorial games, the Stoics were different.

It was obvious. It was intentional.

If I wanted to be like the mob, Chrysippus once said, I would not have become a philosopher. I want to be like the red thread, Agrippinus told a friend, the thread that stands out and makes the garment beautiful.

The Stoics knew that each of us was born inherently unique. Well before an understanding of the science of DNA, they implicitly grasped that never before and never again will our combinations of genetics exist–that we are singular. So why would they try to become like everyone else? Why would they unquestioningly do what everyone else did? Why would they mute their colors, conform their thoughts, fearfully submit to someone else’s rule?

​They stood apart. They stood tall. They stood proud. And so must you. Because you are you, never to exist ever again. Not part of the mob or the crowd but a philosopher.