Seneca: It is your duty to imitate their constancy in…

Virtue does not check your résumé before it becomes available to you. Courage, fairness, self-control, and endurance are not reserved for the well-born, well-connected, or naturally confident. They are choices practiced under pressure, and pressure visits every kind of life. Seneca's language about following the gods can be read as a challenge to aim higher than our excuses. We may not control our starting point, our advantages, or the burdens assigned to us. We can still decide whether we will meet the next difficulty with integrity. That makes character radically democratic. The intern can act justly. The parent under stress can pause before yelling. The student with little status can tell the truth. Do not wait until your circumstances improve to begin becoming who you want to be. Choose one virtue that your day will test and define it in behavior: one honest answer, one restrained response, one difficult duty completed.