A few nights ago, my sister-in-law mentioned
in passing that Paris was under attack. To her, it was no big deal.
However, the journalist in me couldn't let it pass. I logged onto
Reddit and thought that it couldn't be any worse than the Charlie
Hebdo attack.
Time proved me wrong.
At the time of this writing, 132 were
dead and at least 89 were in critical condition, so it's quite
possible this number can jump much higher. It's a great loss of life
that shocked even my normally Stoic self.
Over on r/Stoicism, someone asked how a
Stoic would cope with something like this. Stoicism, like Socrates,
teaches that no one willingly does evil. Rather, they do things in a
misguided attempt to do good. The terrorists in this case did not
think they were doing evil, but justice for things happening in
Syria. Even in cases where we can perceive that others may think we
are doing wrong, we still justify that we are doing right in some
way.
When these terrorists got ready for
their attack, they must have known that the world wouldn't agree with
their reasons. Yet they went on with their attack, because at the end
of the day, they felt they were doing more good than wrong.
Yet that doesn't feel right, does it?
When it comes to minor actions, it's very easy to say, “It seemed
so to them.” Someone steals your lamp, well, it seemed like a good
idea to them. A group massacres and hurts hundreds of people and
saying “It seemed so to them” just doesn't seem to fit.
The problem is that this is exactly
what Stoicism calls for. We as Stoics, as hard as it is, must accept
that the terrorists meant to do good. Does that mean what they did
was good? Of course not. By saying the terrorists wanted to do good,
we're aren't saying that they did good. What they did was further create a chasm between non-Muslims and Muslims. In essence, they created more of the suspicion they accuse non-Muslims of by (most likely) hiding within the refugees' ranks.
There's another way of saying
this: Everyone thinks themselves the hero of their own story. Of
course, this mean that someone has to be a villain as well. People
often talk of the whole world bearing down on them. Well, to these
terrorists, the world really is and so they think they're doing an
even greater good, because the whole world is an evil to fight. Perhaps that's why they don't see the damage they do -- or why anyone who does wrong doesn't see their wrongness. Even the most innocent babe is just a spawn of pure evil.
This doesn't mean that Stoics are just
going to roll over. Marcus lead a Roman army for many years, wielding
its power not in rage, but as it was needed. Of course, most Stoics these
days can't rouse up an army. But we can still do good, like give
money, donate blood, or fight for better foreign policies.
As for however we're feeling, well, none of us are sages. Even the
staunchest Stoic flinches. The point isn't to be perfect and
unfeeling. That's a part of being human. To paraphrase Seneca, our initial anger or sadness are a result of emotional scars. It's how fast we can get back on track that counts.