You May Do You. I Am Me.

“A man misbehaves himself towards me; what is that to me? The action is his, and the disposition that led him to it is his, and therefore let him look to it. As for me, I am in the condition the universal nature assigns me, and am doing what my own nature assigns me.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

My takeaway from this quote is that you shouldn’t try to fix other people because that is their problem and you should care about yourself more. I think this is true to an extent, as I do agree that you should put yourself first. However, I disagree with “letting him look to it”, as I think you should try to help someone if you can. I oftentimes try to feel out if the other person would be receptive to help, and if I can give them a hand in their disposition or change their actions I’ll do my best to.

-Jordan Song, Founders Class

From the Founders:

Jordan,

Excellent quote choice! We love your takeaway from this quote and your inclination to help someone. If we may, our takeaway is that regardless of how others act towards us—whether with arrogance, bigotry, malice, etc.— our actions and moreover, our reactions, are independent of those of others. Because we act with the “universal nature” assigned to us, we are liberated from the retaliation and snap judgments we might harbor for others. Nature holds neither grudges nor regrets. And aren’t we equally nature?