Musonius Rufus, Fragments 41

To share the common notion that we shall be despised by others if in every way we do not strive to harm the first enemies we meet is the mark of mean-minded and ignorant men. 

 

For we say that the despicable man is recognized among other things by his inability to harm his enemies, but actually he is much more easily recognized by his inability to help them.

 

Warning bells go off in my head whenever I hear anyone, regardless of party or creed, speak about destroying the opposition. Yes, the rhetoric might appeal to certain fiery passions, but it still reveals a betrayal of human solidarity. If another must suffer harm in order for me to be right, then I’m fairly sure that my conscience is misinformed. 

 

I understand that this is not a popular view, and it only serves to remind me that what happens to be popular is not always best. The clash of tribes, wherever they may sit on the spectrum, is both a denial of our common identity and a rejection of that old adage, that we should treat others as we would wish to be treated. 

 

If I feel that I have been mistreated, this does not justify my own acts of mistreatment. But when I say this, I am told that I am weak, and that I must now be shunned.

 

At the same time, if I make an argument for choosing to take a stand for myself, I am told that I am now an oppressor, and that I must in turn be oppressed until I conform.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t? 

 

There actually is a resolution, and it involves embracing the fact that no one ever has to lose for someone else to win. This requires understanding that winning or losing are never defined by money, or power over others, or any sort of bragging rights. Winning is living with our own virtue, while losing is living with our own vice. 

 

It might not be possible for everyone to own all of the toys, but it is entirely possible for everyone to practice decency by learning to share them. 

 

Let me be responsible for myself. The left doesn’t like that, so they shake their fists. Let me always seek to help others, and never to cast anyone aside. The right doesn’t like that, and so they spit venom. 

 

Somewhere along the line, we forgot the love was the only real binding law. 

IMAGE: Vincent Van Gogh, The Good Samaritan (1890)