What Do You Fight For? | The View From Above

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. As the founders signed the Declaration of Independence, they knew that this wasn't some painless petition. This wasn't some minor political stand, no, they knew as they wrote that they were mutually pledging their life, fortune, and sacred honor. It was a cause they were willing to give everything for, even die for. This idea of sacred honor, a full commitment to

is worth considering today here on Memorial Day as we honor and think about those men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Because here in the modern world it's never been easier to jump on a bandwagon with a hashtag or post a picture. It's never been easier to spout off on this argument or that one. It's also never been more common to declare oneself a victim of cancel culture or of persecution when one undergoes even the slightest consequences for their actions.

People stormed the United States Capitol because they were angry about losing a free and fair election, and even so they tried to invoke the mantle of the founders. Not only were they wrong and evil, but then they whined like babies when they were maced by officers who really were pledging their lives to defend democracy. The Stoics knew about pledging one's life, liberty, and sacred honor. Thracia and Helvidius, as I tell in Lives of the Stoics, they gave everything in their defiance of Nero.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (8 minutes, 1,345 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.