Neither Good Nor Bad

"You take things you don't control and define them as 'good' or 'bad.' And so of course when the 'bad' things happen, or the 'good' ones don't, you blame the gods and feel hatred for the people responsible — or those you decide to make responsible. Much of our bad behavior stems from trying to apply those criteria. If we limited 'good' and 'bad' to our own actions, we'd have no call to challenge God, or treat other people as enemies." - Marcus Aurelius, Mediations

This is a gentle reminder for the times—which happen way too often—when we blame people for the effect their actions have on us or for certain happenstances of the world around us. Those actions are out of our control, and it is wasted energy and stress to worry about how it will affect us. There is an anecdote about a Chinese farmer, in which his horse runs away, and the townspeople say it's such bad news. But, the Chinese farmer says, “I don't know if it is good news or bad news” and the next day, the horse returns with two other horses, and the townspeople say, “what great news!”, and the farmer repeats himself, "I don't know if it is good or bad news" and the next day while his son was teaching the new horses to till the land, the son fell off and broke his back; the story continues in this cycle of getting news, and being unsure of how it will turn out, all the while the townspeople are quick to jump for assumptions. Both this story and Aurelius' quote are great reminders on how to look at our circumstances and fuel our own actions and mindset.

-Alan, Founders Class