I love the portion of this entry from The Daily Stoic about how we can only control our own flame. That’s useful for me to keep in mind when I feel like hardly anybody else cares about making a positive difference. As long as I’m doing my part, I’m on the right track. Although there is another way for me to help. Keeping my flame going allows me to offer part of it to someone who is having trouble keeping their flame lit or whose flame has gone out. If I give them part of my flame, I don’t lose anything and they can get all of their flame back and then some. In the process, we both end up shining brighter than we did before.
“Protect your own good in all that you do, and as concerns everything else take what is given as far as you can make reasoned use of it. If you don’t, you’ll be unlucky, prone to failure, hindered and stymied.”
-Epictetus, Discourses, 4.3.11
The goodness inside you is like a small flame, and you are its keeper. It’s your job, today and every day, to make sure that it has enough fuel, that it doesn’t get obstructed or snuffed out.
Every person has their own version of the flame and is responsible for it, just as you are. If they all fail, the world will be much darker – that is something you don’t control. But so long as your flame flickers, there will be some light in the world.