Features
1. An Anthem for Modernization - Caleb Lee
Photo Credit: Kalani Quiroz
Curious about what I was listening to, a friend of mine abruptly took my earpiece and asked what song was playing. The melody was My Funny Valentine, sung by Chet Baker in 1952, a time marking the decline of jazz. By the time rock & roll caught on in the mid-fifties, the jazz style had virtually disappeared from popular music. Though jazz will never cease to exist, its grip on culture has gradually and continuously weakened.
The time of visiting a restaurant and listening to a live band performing is a relic of the past. Rarely will one ever see a jazz club across the street. The genre has now become “café” music or only something “different” people listen to. The reason for its waning popularity? It’s simply that no one has the time to visit a local jazz club. The essence of going down to a nightclub or dance hall and listening to a live performance has disappeared: jazz itself hasn’t died but its culture has.
“I’m too busy for this.” The world has consumed the lives of many, thus consuming culture as well. It has now conglomerated into a ball of uniformity and mundane sensations, where stars in the sky are disappearing from the “magnificent” lights of the cities. Rapid modernization and industrialization which Uncle Sam has been crying for since the late 18th century has and will still continue for years to come. Thus, similar to the 1960s, the world has gone into a loss in narrative: no one knows what's going on. Uprising conflict against instilled authority may sound appealing, but only turns and morphs our society in grotesque and violent ways. The division between politics, morals, social norms, religion, and ethnicity has only harmed civilization more than it has helped. We fill our minds with progressive ideas, yet no improvement has come. This snowballing for novelty is terrifying.
Media and entertainment have ruined individuality, in the sense that conversations desperately rely on hot topics, trends, and gossip. Rapid modernization through technology has absorbed many young individuals, pulling them into a loophole of instant gratification. I recall a time at a dessert shop, where a mother was “eating” with her son. Hunched over and consumed by his phone, her son hadn’t even touched his pastry. The mother’s eyes depressingly stared into the distance, devoid of life. In reality, she was eating by herself.
The “gifts” we have received from brilliant minds, raising our standards of living, have consequently dropped our standards in society. Jazz and other forms of culture have been crushed by the march of modernization, as if it were some sort of imperialistic army, colonizing all non-POP cultures. The anthem for modernization is exalted and sung across the globe: revolutionized metropolises in Saudi Arabia, colonization of Mars, fixing the earth’s ecosystem. The Muukab, SpaceX Mars Program, and Nasa’s Mitigation and Adaptation all cover the problems of our population. The anthem exclaims deafeningly that the sound of jazz cannot be heard. We lift our flags upon hearing the anthem, but once we notice the flags of others, we begin to antagonize and criticize them for not holding our own. The anthem chants over the voices of individuality, our idiosyncratic nature unheard and unfound. There is no originality in it, for we have all become identical, singing the same song. Will we ever put down our horns for this anthem?
2. To Pimp a Butterfly [1] - Dustin Bell
Photo Credit: Danial Jamshidi
The problem has gone nowhere, it is a recurring system within the black community. It is an institutionalized cycle, right in front of all of our faces. We turn on the TV and see 5 black policemen jump to death one black man, and it takes protest for the policemen to experience any type of consequences. How many times have we all seen that? It is becoming normality, and the truth is it is keeping people boxed in. Those of us who make it out of the system have the choice to sell out for the system or be the change that we wish to see, to maintain our butterfly, or to have our butterfly pimped.
Nobody is teaching poor young black men how to be successful even when they attain it, it is all up to them. The artists that kids idolize are still facing a battle trying to be a role model while learning things that they were never taught. In being that role model, another problem has been created. Too often, people are trying to be like their favorite rapper by showcasing their street credibility. The industry is not doing enough with its platforms on educating the youth on how to be successful, rather than how to dress and look like your favorite artist. That is how we stay poor and maintain a system that was not made for us.
There are so many minds that are taken away from chances because of their poor environments. These kids do not even get a chance to tap into their potential. Whose fault is that? It is ours, when someone feels like no one cares about them, they are less inclined to succeed. Somehow, we keep getting to the conclusion that more police will get the youth in shape. More police do not teach kids how to be successful and get kids to college. We often are investing in keeping kids down, rather than cultivating their minds upward because we avoid their institutions and how we can make it feel to them like we care. The kids that stole and hotwired the car could have a future in engineering, but how is he gonna know that if none of us care about his future?
There are plenty of good kids in these dangerous cities, but we cannot ever see it if we never give them the chance. Think about when people to volunteer work, that feeling that people get when they are being served and it feels like other people care about them which has been absent in most of their life is like no other. Why can we not apply that everywhere we are? All it takes is applying the right amount of care and effort, and we can cultivate the youth, ending the cycle that everyone complains about. I myself am becoming tired of seeing the same stories on the news time and time again with different names, but the numbers keep adding up. Then we protest to get justice for this person, but we need justice in the entire system so that these recurring stories do not become normal.
[1] An allusion to the 2015 music album "To Pimp a Butterfly" by Kendrick Lamar
3. The Blue Cover - Collin Walker
Photo Credit: Emilio Binda
1
My mother has always been a very crafty person. By using hundreds of painstakingly long photoshoots and thousands of photos, for many years of my early life she has created scrapbooks of my and my brother’s recent years, each fitted with a light blue plastic cover on both sides, and the year punched into the spine to tell from what era of time the pictures were taken from. When I was a kid, or more so than I am now, I used to be very confused as to why my mother would ever want to stitch all of those photos together, or take the time to take so many photos in the first place, as all of those memories could just be recollected in the confines of one’s own mind. Frankly, at the time, I didn’t even want to recollect any memories, or go back to a time when I was much younger, or do any of that. For me, I was fine where I was. To be honest, when I was a kid, all I would’ve ever wanted to do was to go forwards.
2
For me, when I was in middle school, the days seemed astronomically long. This was likely due to the fact that I didn’t have much to do in terms of entertainment within school, or even outside of it for that matter. I had no phone, computer, or iPad, and the one thing that had given me some form of entertainment, books, were quickly taken from my hands the second my teachers learned of how distracted I could become when engrossed in one. So, the slog of school ensued, with eight class periods spanning a time period of 45 minutes each, and with the need to wait longer in my school’s after school program for my parents to pick me up at six o’clock, to say that I was tired and bored after all of the waiting would be an understatement. With that, it is quite obvious to see why I would not want to reminisce on the past when I was a kid. In my young mind, the past was filled with long days, of waiting for my parents to pick me up, of trying to stay awake in a class that bored me to smithereens without a reliable distraction to do so. I couldn’t wait until there came a time in which the days felt fast, where the long dredge turned into a blur, where it would feel like I would perpetually be at home, with my mom making dinner, and my dad sitting on the couch looking at the news, and my brother ready to play with legos at any and all time of the day.
3
Flashback to today, and the days feel drastically short, they feel like a blur, a faster blur than I could’ve ever hoped for when I was a kid. To me, it feels like only fifteen minutes has gone by since the time I am dropped off school to the time that it ends. But, the time after school until when I go to bed feels even faster. It feels like every day is an hour, every week is a day, and every month is a week. To me, I now wish I could go back to a time when everything went slow, when I had infinite time on my hands to do infinite things, when I was a kid again. My mom now lives in Texas with my brother, having brought those anthologies of pictures with blue covers with her. I once was indifferent, maybe even dismissive of those books, but now, I wish that I could read them every night when I get home. I wish that I would’ve payed them more attention. I wish that I would’ve stared at each picture printed on those waxy pages for hours as to imprint each pixel on my mind, as now those images are fading. Those images which I could remember with striking detail when I was a kid, have since faded in the jumble of information that floods my mind each day, washing the colors of memory like words on the sand of a beach. And now, I would pay anything to go back.
4. The Digital Album - Isaac Buntarja
Photo Credit: Josh Li
1
There are many times when I can wholeheartedly express that I cannot comprehend the modern generation. There are so many unfathomable aspects of modern society which are unfathomable to my own mind, yet they drive the minds of the vast majority of people on earth. And all of these driving factors seem to stem from that one, small, black rectangle, the modern human’s bible, with which he must use to navigate the stormy waters of today’s world. Here is where I must now confess that I, too, have succumbed, or shall I say, indulged, in the temptations a phone brings, yet whenever I step back, and try to comprehend the bigger picture, I notice that the modern trends of today are incomprehensible. The people say otherwise, I suppose, because almost every person on this planet is not without their own phone in their pocket, or more likely in their hands as they scroll through today’s offerings from social media, unaware of the world around them.
2
I have an Instagram account, as ashamed as I am to admit it. I am not quite sure as to why I even conceived of creating this account, but the fact remains that I am an apathetic user of a social media platform. So it was thus on one particularly unordinary day that I decided to actually use this platform, opening it on my browser, and I was first greeted by a picture of a boy I knew with his girlfriend. In fact, I was greeted by many pictures of this boy with his girlfriend; they were as relentless as they were numerous. Attempting to extricate myself from this trove of personal details I had no desire to explore further, I next scrolled to a post of a friend’s dog. A more enjoyable topic overall, I relaxed a little more. Then I scrolled again, to another picture of a dog. And then again. And again. And again. Monotony began to creep in. That’s when I noticed a button that said “Explore”, and I decided that maybe exploring further would reveal posts that I myself would enjoy. I clicked on the button, and the first post presented to me was a picture of a woman’s calves. I suppose I can assert that the day was no longer unordinary, but after quickly closing the application, I wondered whether that was for the best.
3
I have never followed Andrew Tate’s story. In fact, I had no idea who he was until a student in my class did a project about him. The man seemed to be an impactful influencer, as everyone in my class appreciated this project and shared approval for Tate’s work. But from the reception of my teacher, I gathered that this celebrity was not exactly a very ethical person. Curiosity got to me, and I did some research later, and here is what I learned: Andrew Tate is a human trafficker and rapist who advocated feminine abuse and was justly imprisoned for his actions, yet he still continues to try to spread his detestable influence to others, with tangible success. I was a little surprised, especially since I had heard many things about Tate before researching him, most of them by teenagers, which painted Tate as a person of great respect and renown. The man truly defined humanity’s evils, yet his ideals spread throughout the modern generation. I tried to make sense of it, but gave up, sighing, as I returned to my work.
4
“Ok, my teacher said, “I am going to give you time in class to start the assignment I gave you. I suggest doing it now, or else you’ll find that you’ll have a lot of homework to do.” I nodded in understanding and got started, and was well on my way. That was when I happened to glance to the left, and saw my fellow classmate. He appeared to be working, but in actuality, he was scrolling through TikTok. It puzzled me for a bit, after all, the teacher said we should get this work started, why waste time? Curious, I glanced to the right and was met with a similar sight. Although I could not tell what my other classmate was looking at, he was using his phone to do so, hiding it furtively inside his pocket. I peered over the shoulder of the student in front of me, and saw he was playing a game. Diagonal of me, yet another student was also playing a game. Still a little confused, I temporarily forgot this as I felt an urge to go to the restroom, yet this puzzling matter returned as I met two more students using their phones inside the restroom, as if to take refuge from their teachers. I had two thoughts running through my mind as I finished my business. The first was that my own phone was still safely tucked away in my backpack, unused since the first bell rang. The second was the constant complaining from students I heard in previous classes about the amount of workload they had to do.
5
The modern generation has achieved its purpose of alienating me from the rest of society, but after reflecting on the past few years, I hardly doubt I can blame myself for this alienation I often experience. Why would there be so many inane pictures and posts about useless topics on social media platforms? Why do so many people find themselves enraptured in these posts? Why are still many people enthralled by the likes of Andrew Tate? Why are the students I am surrounded by so obsessed with their technology they disregard that which is important for their academic success? And why is society driven by the pixels they watch on their small, black rectangles? Maybe one day I will be able to fathom modern society’s motivation, or maybe this concept will remain a mystery to me. But if I do manage to make sense of the modern generation, I am quite sure that day will be a momentous day indeed.
5. Why Ghosts Killed the RMS Queen Mary - John Hyll
Photo Credit: Lucas Ciranna
Out of all the ocean liners from the days of transatlantic crossings whether it be the Mauritania, Norandie, or the infamous Titanic, one has always stood out from others, the RMS Queen Mary. The Queen Mary is considered the greatest of all the ocean liners not only because of its incredibly successful history of carrying passengers, but also because it is the only remaining pre-war ocean liner in existence, being preserved as a hotel and museum in Long Beach, CA. With that being said, the ship has had a very rough run in Long Beach flopping between many different operators with many strange, partially implanted or outright canceled proposals to breathe life into the aging vessel. For the last few decades, the operators have leaned heavily into the ship’s paranormal aspect which, despite bringing in more revenue, has had absolutely disastrous long term effects. Although the Queen Mary’s paranormal attractions may bring in some additional revenue and interest, it is clear that through this the operators have been exploiting and accelerating the deterioration of the historic ship.
Today when it comes to the ship’s paranormal aspect there are quite a few options for visitors. There are various walking tours during the day and night where people are led into these haunted areas and told about various stories of alleged ghost “Sightings” with some interesting, albeit very limited historical information. The main haunted attraction, however, is a tour known as Ghosts and Legends which is essentially a special effects based haunted house which shows areas such as the 1st class pool, boiler rooms, and a few other places. Along with this, every year around Halloween there is a 4 week carnival called Dark Harbor which utilizes many of these areas along with the land adjacent to the ship. In contrast to this, any person willing to experience the actual historical aspect of the ship has far fewer options. The only real tour offered for this is the Glory Days Historical tour which does provide interesting information, however all the areas shown are already accessible on the “Ship Walk” self-guided tour which, while interesting, completely misses the majority of interesting areas on the ship. Some of these very interesting and significant places in the ship such as the boiler rooms, 3rd class dining room, and the 1st class pool are presented and used in a less than adequate manner in Ghosts and Legends. The aforementioned first class pool, one of the most beautiful and unique areas in the entire ship, is left in a horribly run down thanks to this attraction, with major damage being seen to both the extensive tiling and the pool basin itself. The areas used in Ghosts and Legends are not an isolated instance, with many other interesting places either left completely abandoned or in very run-down condition. Many theorize that this concerning deterioration is actually being exploited and accelerated by the operators to add to the haunted feel. Whether that is true or not, it is clear that any services to educate the public on the Queen Mary’s grand history, engineering and design are sidelined by the haunted aspect that has become such a priority to the point of damaging major historical areas.
Some have made the argument that these haunted attractions provide much needed revenue for the Queen Mary. I disagree. One looks and wonders if the immense resources used to set up and decorate many areas with special effects and to set up and take down the yearly Dark Harbor could instead be used to repair and restore many significant areas that have fallen into disrepair thanks to the hyperfocus on the haunted. The whole focus on ghosts was put in for the sole purpose of gaining revenue, and while that did work in the short term the results we are seeing in the long term say otherwise. There is a very good case to be made that if these areas were restored and used for events, exhibits, or shows related to the ship, attendance and, most importantly, revenue would be higher as a result.
The Queen Mary’s very turbulent history as a hotel and museum in Long Beach can be attributed to many different factors such as location, presentation, and many others. However one of the biggest and most dire reasons is marketing. It is so hyper focused on the paranormal where it has drastically affected the public image of the ship. Ask any person about the ship and the first thing they will say is that it's haunted. Go on the internet, and the most popular articles and videos will talk about how the ship is haunted. Go look for books, and most will talk about how the ship is haunted. Go to the ship itself, and you will find posters outside advertising the many haunted attractions. Look at how much effort and funding the operators have put into the haunted aspect, and how little has been put into actual historic preservation.
From all this the Queen Mary has become known as an old, haunted, and run down ship. What kind of demographic does this attract? Really, the only people who the ship can rely on from this marketing is a very small niche of paranormal enthusiasts, and perhaps thrill-seeking young people who will most likely only visit once. In contrast, other groups focused on history, engineering, art, or even general entertainment could be far more reliable and profitable, but are all turned away by the paranormal emphasis. There is a great argument to be made that if the Queen Mary would market itself as a family friendly attraction like most historic attractions do with more areas set aside for education, hospitality, and in general have itself seen as a major community asset, it would be far more popular and profitable than ever before. But most importantly, in order to keep the ship’s dignity intact we must not rely on ghost stories while turning her into a haunted house attraction. Instead we must present her as the beautiful marvel engineering and art that she is, where there is no shortage of REAL stories about REAL people to be told.
As of the writing of this essay, the ship has been closed for over 2 years with the most recent leaseholder going bankrupt, and the city of Long Beach taking over. If and when the ship does reopen, whoever the new operator is must look at the last sixty years and make a critical choice. For if this sole surviving relic from a bygone era is to be preserved for future generations, she must be treated with the utmost respect to the work of those who designed, built, and maintained her.
6. No One Knows - Holden Deitch
Photo Credit: Adam Sandoval
“You never truly know someone until you’ve stepped in their shoes and walked around in them”
-Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
Never in my life have I understood this simple, concise statement more clearly. Our words have unlimited power over others, power to change, power to aid, and even power to destroy. It is a shame that all too often, we use this power in a negative way to harm, to manipulate, to belittle. We ignore one of the most famous quotes in all of American literature and refuse to acknowledge the circumstances of another human being. A verbal assault on one man, woman, or child is an unwarranted barrage on all men, women, and children. We will never know the true extent of our words on their recipients, but consider for a second the multitude of possibilities. Consider a father who just lost his son to a drunk driver. Consider a boyfriend whose girlfriend just took her own life. Consider a daughter whose mother just lost her final battle with cancer. These people may not show it, but they carry an immeasurable pain. A sorrow certainly incomprehensible to the many, recognizable by the few. If a man walked down the street in tears carrying a sign that his son had just passed, would he be ridiculed for his haircut or belittled for his socks being uneven? Certainly not. So why don’t we choose to treat all of our brothers and sisters in this manner? Why do we choose to harm those, without any knowledge of how they may be affected, what they may be going through, or how they will take it? You never truly know a person until you wear their shoes for a day, walk around, and recognize their situation or circumstance. So stop treating people as if you understand them. Stop making jokes about those who you do not understand. Stop putting others down for the sake of a laugh from your friend. Treat others how you would like to be treated if you were going through the hardest moment of your life, with compassion and kindness. With sympathy and empathy. Because one never truly knows.
7. Chains - Kennedy Mitchell-Egbo
Photo Credit: Aidan Guzman
There are so many things that weigh us down. Our friends and their opinions as well as others, the love of a partner, or the expectations of those around us. Most if not all of us conform to these weights that restrict us from being us. It’s an idea as old as time these restrictions that stop us from becoming who we know we can be.
A lot of people act as if they are not fake or artificial. They want you to believe they are genuine but it’s not so. Everything one sees on a screen on social media is controlled for opinion so how could it truly be real. These platforms again weigh us down as many like to create facades and feel the need to constantly update and fill us in on these details. It makes us slaves!
I’ve spent a lot of time over this past year forming a perspective on the idea of race and slavery based on all the opinions and thoughts I have heard. But the thing that intrigues me is how many of us are enslaved to the past. Does this mean that as a black man today I am owed something from the former master that is my white counterpart? Is this me being down with my people or me being inferior and weak? It in my opinion is the latter. I believe that slavery and the history behind it should be taught but I hate having to deal with a white person who continually apologizes for racism and slavery. I find it to be an annoyance as this is all one can think about me as, a slave, a man dependent on your race’s approval and sympathy.
It’s not that I believe that slavery and the people evolved were atrocious, I just think that many blacks are enslaved by each other and whites as uneducated and in need of a white person to be their savior. I am an American and have the opportunity to attain success. I am not a slave to my circumstances. I am not a slave to my race. I am not a slave to your opinion!
There’s a lot to be done about my community and I hope to only further black success but I do not need to be reminded that I could’ve been a slave that I am inferior because I’m not. No one is. I’m no longer in chains, I can make myself better. I have the ability to. I may not have the means to or the advantage of a partial institution but I have my pride, faith, and ambition and that’s all we need to succeed. It is what makes slavery wrong. It is what freed us from our chains!
Again I say slavery is important to learn about and it has helped me connect further with my roots. After all, we must learn history so that we do not repeat it. I appreciate the knowledge of it and such but I don’t think it defines me. My skin doesn’t define me but I define me! And as I wrap this up I’m getting emotional as some people still see me as a slave even those who apologize profusely even through their guilt they can’t see past what I once could’ve been to what I am now.
8. On Stoicism - William Ruyle
Photo Credit: Preston Lee
Zeno of Citium. This is the name of the man who founded the Stoic school of philosophy in about 300 BC. Zeno, like many others, fell victim to an uncontrollable aspect of life that caused him tremendous loss. On his voyage from Phoenicia to Piraeus, Zeno’s ship sank along with all his cargo. This event led him to end up in Athens. In Athens he found himself in a bookstore where he was introduced to the philosophy of Socrates and Crates. The influence these thinkers had on his life were drastic as this led him to develop his own thinking principles which is now known as Stoicism. Zeno of Citium was wealthy and set for life before losing all his cargo at sea. He founded Stoicism, a philosophy that still lives today, in 300 BC all because his ship sank, an event completely out of his or anyone’s control. His entire life’s work was flushed down the drain by the sheer force of nature. Instead of feeling angry, sad, disappointed, or hopeless, which would all be normal reactions for most people, Zeno chose acceptance and indifference, two core elements of Stoicism. Reflecting on the shipwreck, Zeno reportedly said, “You’ve done well, fortune, driving me thus to philosophy”. Zeno adopted this obstacle as the way and followed it to find his true purpose in life.
So what is Stoicism? To put it simply and in the words of Zeno, “Happiness is a good flow of life” and Stoicism allows one to achieve this through peace of mind from living a life of virtue in accordance with reason and nature. All those words sound pleasant, but what does that really mean? To break this definition down, there are four virtues that Stoics use to stay on track towards the good flow of life Zeno mentioned. The first virtue is wisdom. A quote from Epictetus, one of the most famous Stoics, explains the virtue of wisdom, “The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own” (Epictetus). The ability to clearly examine life without a clouded judgment based mind is essential to Stoicism. Knowing the difference between what is in our control and what is not is a massive pillar of Stoicism known as the dichotomy of control. Life becomes much simpler when we can break down even the biggest of issues into whether it is an uncontrollable external or an issue that is within our ability to control. For example, we can’t control the weather, so why worry about it? Yet we can control our actions and how we think. An extremely large part of Stoicism is this principle: We cannot control what happens to us but we can control how we respond to it. We are not defined by what happens to us but by how we react and respond to what happens to us. Our response is always in our control and a sense of tranquility is found when the truth that so much is out of our control is accepted. Marcus Aurelius is one of the most famous Stoics and also served as a great Emperor of Rome and was one of the most powerful people in the world when he ruled. Marcus Aurelius urged Stoics to “Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference”. Wisdom is being able to understand what the philosophy is teaching and taking it into real life actions. As Seneca said, another famous stoic philosopher, “Works not words”. The second virtue followed by Stoics is temperance. For the Stoics, the word temperance is often used interchangeably with the idea of self-control. Knowing what is enough and the limits of what one needs is important in Stoicism. Ryan Holiday of the Daily Stoic states that, “Temperance is the knowledge that abundance comes from having what is essential”. This aspect of self-control is not just towards pleasurable indulgences but should be practiced in all ways of life, in pain and disorder too. One should not have their happiness relying on short lasting pleasures and should neither rely on the fleetingness of pain. Having the self control to not let negative emotions steer us away from the truth of a situation is part of temperance. Temptations cloud our judgements all the time and it is important to have the discipline and self control to maintain a clear and unbiased mind. Temperance guides away from unreliable extremes. The next virtue followed by Stoicism is courage. This word is used heavily and generally people have a good understanding of what it means. In Stoicism, practicing courage is especially important because it is needed to seek truth all the time. It takes courage to seek truth especially when society has made people accustomed to succumbing to its expectations. Another reason courage is so important is based in the large Stoic idea of not fearing death. Rather than fearing death, it is used as motivation. If death is always somewhere on the mind, it will act as a constant reminder to live in the good flow of life now and stop wasting time. Anybody can die at any moment. This should not be scary. It should be a reminder to go into action and live how you want to live now instead of later. So many exclaim that life is short but it only appears this way because we waste so much of our lives on meaningless activities. Are you afraid of dying because you won’t be able to watch Netflix, or sit on the couch, or scroll social media anymore once you are dead? Marcus Aurelius once said, “It is not death a man should fear, but rather he should fear never beginning to live”. When we look back and really look at what we are spending our time doing, we will find just how much of it is wasted. How is the life you are living any different than being dead? This question can be scary to some but that again is why the virtue of courage is necessary in the practice of Stoicism. The last of the four virtues is justice. Justice is the all encompassing virtue of the four as the other three can not exist fully without the virtue of justice being followed in accordance. Marcus Aurelius himself recognized this virtue as the most important of the four. Living this virtue requires caring for other people. What good is courage if only used for personal benefit? What is the value of wisdom if it is not shared with those around us? The Stoic teacher Epictetus once said, “Seeking the very best in ourselves means actively caring for the welfare of other human beings”. We are all connected through reason. We are all the same. Ryan Holiday describes Stoicism in one sentence as this, “A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice”.
The teaching of ancient Stoic philosophy was unlike any other at the time as it was open to all people and not kept from anyone. Rich or poor you could learn the ways of Stoicism and many did, from Epictetus, a former slave to Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor. It does not require complex thinking to understand as in fact the Stoics avoid complexity and admire simplicity. Because of this it grew to become one of the most prominent philosophies of Greece and Rome and at the time was only ever rivaled by Christianity. It became so popular because it simply works. The times of Stoicism’s upbringing were filled with death, famine, and war and other situations that were far out of anybody’s control. The ability to come to peace with what you can not control helped these people tremendously. These uncontrollable externals were far more common and dangerous in ancient times than they are now which is part of the reason Stoicism has fallen in popularity. Yet its usefulness in daily life is just as real and effective as it was back then. Stoicism equips all with the tools necessary to make any task manageable and attack it with reason and a clear mind. No matter what happens, the ability to choose how you respond will always be there. This choice should be made with attachment to reason and virtue. This is all we can control and it is all we need to control. Epictetus states, “Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well.”