The discussions emerging from the recent debate between Trump and Biden have not been about immigration, their stances on China and Russia, inflation, civil rights, or anything resembling policy. Rather, they have been about the uneasy performance of our current president.
Americans today are choosing between a man with a questionable cognition and one who threatens decades of progress made on the ideals laid out in the Constitution.
People are increasingly losing trust in the political process. At least in the circles I hang around in, people speak of the law from a distance, viewing new legislation as firm decisions without any sense of ownership or a realization of the consequences that society may bear.
Studying at Berkeley, I am regularly exposed to students who are deeply empathetic to the injustices faced across the globe. However, I’m also aware of the indifference of those who walk by campus activists, brushing them off as minor annoyances as they scurry off to class. I am ashamed to admit that I’ve been part of the latter group. I was particularly struck when I looked myself in the mirror of a library bathroom one morning and realized my nonchalance about the protests about Palestine that had been going on for several weeks. In fact, I sensed no curiosity to learn about their grievances. Where I had once been deeply informed about global affairs, issues most contested in Congress, and history in general, I have recently become impassive about such matters.
I recently flew over to Washington DC for a concert. I checked out all the famous landmarks: the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial etc. The visits were not borne of an admiration for the rich history of the place but were motivated by a typical tourist’s desire to wander about. It was that same indifference within me that had been breeding for years.
I had a conversation with my Airbnb host near the end of my trip. He was a biologist in training and had been in the FDA for a while where he oversaw the creation of nutrition labels. We talked about the ways companies try to get around reporting all the substances in their foods, how the materials present in cans affect the quality of their contents, and the shady ways supplement companies try to bypass important bureaucratic procedures. All of that sparked the sense of justice that had been dormant within me for years. I was curious for once about something that didn’t have to do with engineering or music.
There’s this idea that exists within American political thought that one must be liberal when they’re young then turn conservative with age. As Ryan Holiday points out in Right Thing, Right Now, it’s rather contrary to how life pans out. We’re more focused on individual growth and success as we move out of high school. However, as we begin to make our mark on the world, explore new locations, have unique conversations, and eventually build families, we move out of that purely self-serving attitude to support those we care about.
Our experiences and wisdom should make us more empathetic to what afflicts others in our community. Not indifferent and self-serving.
Ryan also recounts how he sought Stoicism in his youth as an operating system that served his personal goals and professional ambitions. The emphasis on the common good in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, however, allowed him to re-calibrate his north star. Realizing that working as the Director of Marketing of an apparel company was not the most effective mode of service, he quit to become a writer of philosophy, opting instead to impact his readers through timeless messages of courage, discipline, and justice.
Reading history makes us realize that a freedom as simple as being able to eat at a restaurant without being harassed has been earned through centuries of activism, countless years in jail, and unimaginable violence administered by misguided law enforcers. We all inherit the goods of the tireless work put in by generations past. It could be the work of people as close as our parents or someone as distant in time and space as Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr who fought for the equal rights of humanity as a whole.
We are more connected than we realize. Across generations and across oceans.. As inheritors of the freedom and material wealth instrumental to our lives, we should indeed be concerned about government, policy, and the way others are treated.