"Whenever disturbing news is delivered to you, bear in mind that no news can ever be relevant to your reasoned choice. Can anyone break news to you that your assumptions or desires are wrong? No way! But they can tell you someone died-even so, what is that to you?"-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.18.1-2
("불안한 뉴스가 전달될 때마다, 어떤 뉴스도 여러분의 합리적인 선택과 관련이 있을 수 없다는 점을 명심하세요. 누군가 여러분의 가정이나 욕망이 틀렸다는 소식을 전할 수 있을까요? 절대 안 됩니다! 하지만 누군가가 죽었다고 말할 수는 있겠지만, 그게 여러분에게 무슨 의미가 있을까요?"-에픽테토스, 담화, 3.18.1-2)
A well-meaning friend might ask you today: "What do you think about [insert tragedy from the other side of the world]?" You, in your equally well-meaning concern, might say, "I just feel awful about it."
In this scenario, both of you have put aside your reasoned choice without doing a single thing for the victims suffering from the actual tragedy. It can be so easy to get distracted by, even consumed by, horrible news from all over the world. The proper response of the Stoic to these events is not to not care, but mindless, meaningless sympathy does very little either (and comes at the cost of one's own serenity, in most cases). If there is something you can actually do to help these suffering people, then, yes, the ...
