Seneca Moral essays
Seneca: Fire will burn all people equally, male and…
Fire will burn all people equally, male and female, of every rank and every age: steel will exhibit its cutting power on all bodies alike: and why? Because these things derive their strength from nature, which makes no distinction of persons.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Seneca’s moral essays. The reading beside it is ours.
Nature does not check a résumé, income, age, or follower count before it acts. Illness, accident, and death reach every category of person. This is not a comforting fact in the sentimental sense, but it can be clarifying. The world is not necessarily making a personal statement about you when hardship arrives. It is doing what the world has always done: changing, breaking, ending, and beginning without regard for status. That realization can make us humbler in good fortune and less shocked in bad fortune. It can also make us more humane. The person across from you—wealthy or struggling, young or old—is exposed to the same basic fragility. Let that level you. Today, trade the question "Why me?" for a more useful one: "Given that this is human, what is the best human response I can make?"
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