How You Carry That Weight

"It's unfortunate that this has happened. No. It's fortunate... it could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

In Book Four of Meditations, Aurelius speaks on the way humankind should deal with suffering, and how the burden of misfortune is not to weigh us down, but rather uplift us, especially given misfortune is just one piece of nature, a piece that the Logos that chose you as worthy of carrying that weight. This attitude reminds me of a similar teaching of logotherapy's meaning of suffering. It shifts the perspective of our misfortune to suggest when we are burdened with suffering, we can save another from suffering, like a widower who mourns their love knowing that their wife would have been much less likely to cope if their positions were switched. There is no way to avoid misfortune or suffering in life, but the idea that you can wear your pain on your sleeve with pride is an under-appreciated perspective.

-Rafael, Founders Class