CVII. On Privilege
Use your strength before it leaves you.
P.S: Most of you loved the previous entries on How To Deal With Toxic People & How To Negotiate.
“So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there.” — Marcus Aurelius
We don’t often see our privileges for what they are - they’ve become so normal that we don’t appreciate them until they're gone. A sound mind. A working memory. The ability to read, to focus, to hold a thought in place long enough to make an inference. Even to be born in a first world country. These are foundational blessings - they decide the quality of our lives. They are what separates us from confusion, chaos, and despair. Yet we treat them as a given. As if they were the default settings of life, and there was no chance of them wearing out.
But what if they did?
Imagine waking up as Gregor Samsa did in Kafka’s Metamorphosis — as a cockroach, no longer able to speak, dangling your feet upside down - unable to move, a stranger to the people you love. Imagine having your mind misty beyond repair, your speech slurrred, your hands limp, your soul still present but trapped in a broken body. That is how millions live. People born with neurological limitations. People hit by stroke. People robbed of sanity. I see them at the hospital everyday. They cannot reason their way out of pain. They cannot push themselves to improve. They do not have what we have.
We do.
We can learn. Think. Improve. Lead. Love. Endure.
And not only that - we have access to the greatest tools in history. Technology that people in the ‘90s would’ve considered science fiction. A slab of glass in our pockets connects us to the sum total of human knowledge. We can ask it anything - how to fix a broken relationship, how to start a business, how to rewire our brains. And it will answer, without complaint. In seconds. We have thought leaders whose entire lifetime of insight we can access for free. Wisdom, techniques, strategies. It's all there. And we - unlike others - can grasp it. We have the brains, the bandwidth, the resources. And yet we scroll. We watch porn. We whine about boredom. As if boredom were the worst thing that could happen.
This is spiritual negligence.
Our duty is not just to enjoy these advantages, but to justify them. To make them useful. To wring every drop of potential from them. To live in such a way that even the gods who gave us these gifts would nod and say, “Well done.”
That means holding our principles even when it hurts. It means choosing reason over rage, discipline over distraction, contribution over comfort. It means living with integrity when we’re the only ones watching, using our words not only to charm, but also to uplift, and becoming so competent, so strong, so useful - to serve our families, our work, our people.
And above all, it means never forgetting how rare this opportunity is.
Most people are barely holding on. Many of us have been spared the cruel roll of the genetic dice that burdens others with low IQ, poor impulse control, erratic emotions, or crippling fears. We’ve been given a body not wrecked by hunger, poverty, war, or disease. Most don’t get this boon.
These are divine gifts. If we squander them, if we live below our potential, if we waste our time in distractions, in envy, in petty indulgences - we betray not only ourselves but those who never got the chance. We owe it to them to use what we have, at least to make their stay here a bit bearable.
We owe it to ourselves too.
We were given an uncommon lucidity of mind to make good decisions. The strength to suffer and keep going. The sense to choose truth over pleasure. The heart to love despite heartbreak. This is what helps us flourish and be happy as the Stoics envisioned for humanity.
So we must not sit on these gifts.
We must learn relentlessly. Practice until we’re excellent. Lead when others can’t decide what to do. Speak up and fight when silence breeds suffering. Build what’s missing. Set our differences aside. Uplift those who are crushed by life. Bring order where there is chaos. And above all, remain devoted to the duty of becoming our best - not to be lauded or because we feel guilty after this entry, but because sadly, not everyone gets to experience life this way, and because you now realize what good fortune you’ve perched upon - you now know you actually get to do this, to live like this.
That’s the call today. What are you doing with the advantages you've been given?
Use your strength before it leaves you. Make something of your privileges. Live a life that proves you were worthy of the gifts the gods gave you.
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Wonderful essay and admonition for all of us. Thank you for sharing.
Though not a religious person, I have taken to expanding my perception of my inner self in these frightful and dangerous times. I am learning that all of us, those with good intent and those with bad are reflections of the one truth: we are all The One Thing. That knowledge gives us the strength and the power to live our best life. A concept that is difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to achieve, but one worth striving for above all else.
Una gran reflexión, que ni mucho menos por casualidad aparece ante mis ojos en el momento perfecto para recordarme y recordarnos lo privilegiados que somos. Gracias caballero por sacar a la palestra tales bendiciones que damos por sentadas, por hacer que mi ego se retuerza al sentir lo lejos que estoy de alcanzar mi mejor versión, de ser uno con el universo, y lo cerca que estoy a la vez. No deje de escribir nunca, un abrazo!