Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.66

Take care not to feel towards the inhuman, as they feel towards men.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 7 (tr Long)

One of my greatest struggles is not becoming what I hate. And then I realize how my very wording reveals a part of my problem, because I am still caught up in assuming that there is even someone or something I need to hate. I blame others, or I blame the circumstances, and I too easily end up consumed by my own resentment.

It can become a vicious trap, so I am best served by dwelling less upon what others do, and all the reasons I am frustrated, and to dedicate myself to what I can do, and all the ways I can become better.

Or put another way, when I wish to bemoan the absence of humanity, let me be more fully human myself.

I must do this when I see deception and hypocrisy. Let me face it by choosing to be honest and sincere.

I must do this when I see the delusions of ideology. Let me remember that ideas are here to serve the benefit of man, not man to serve the benefit of ideas.

I must do this when I see the vanity of power and influence. Let me act with humility to another, as much as he may lord himself over me.

I must do this when I see the obsession with consumption and gratification. Let me order my passions by what is right, instead of making what is right fit my passions.

I must do this when I see one brought down so another can be raised up. Let me treat everyone as an end in himself, and never as a means. No one is disposable.

I must do this when I see people quick to condemn what is bad, and slow to praise what is good. Let me improve rather than destroy.

Human nature is a glorious thing. Let me not foul it with ignorance and spite. Let me meet hatred with love.

Many and sharp the num'rous ills

Inwoven with our frame!

More pointed still we make ourselves

Regret, remorse, and shame!

And man, whose heav'n-erected face

The smiles of love adorn –

Man's inhumanity to man

Makes countless thousands mourn!

Written in 1/2008