In 2013, I lost the two people that I loved the most in this world… and who also mattered the most in my life.
And that changed me, more than anything else in the course of this life of meaningful destiny, stoic adherence to the Good, and living a Life worth living, with full-tilt purpose.
Indeed, in 2013, we were just a few years out of the financial crisis.
The world was still recovering from the aftershocks of the Great Recession. Police brutality, racism, corruption, were everywhere. Movements, Arab Spring, Libya, Tunisia, Banker Wankers, “Occupy Wall Street” had recently taken over a park in Manhattan, and Homeless encampments had sprung up everywhere.. Taylor Swift had her first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Netflix was a thing. Streaming HBO’s Girls and Housewives had just premiered. The Kardashians were a new thing, and Obama was seeking re-election in a contentious race against nobody special… while Epstein & famous friends like Bill Gates and Co, were raping children in a private island in the Caribbean and the brutal execution of Qaddafi the Sultan of Libya, dragged around by a street mob, hired & paid by the boastful Hillary Clinton our Sec-State, was being filmed with Muammar Qaddafi being anally probed with XL wooden sticks in the streets of Tripoli.
So much shit was going on during those years — one can only remember the awful highlights.
Yet, I remember that time very vividly, because of my personal loss on so many levels, while I had just started to work on the book that would become “Winston.”
In one sense, it was a totally different world this past decade, and I was living a very different life: I was just freshly divorced, had changed continents, upended homes, families, and by the time the book “Winston” came out in 2017, the conflict in Ukraine had begun, there was war in the Middle East, a new business-man President had shown up, I suffered an assassination attack that left me paralyzed, while giving a speech inside Microsoft at the Innovation Garage, a scary outbreak of Ebola broke out in the Kongo, a giant cruise ship floundered, and refugees on the move to a better Life, were all on the news.
Loss, Life’s Ravages, War, Instability, Death, Fear, Uncertainty, Danger, Division, Chaos, Despair, Depression, Doubts & Circumstances of Hate & Racism, Human migrations, Famines, Mass murders, Genocides & Rapes as an instrument of war, were the daily news.
Same like today…
Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.
This is one of the most consistent themes of our lives, the way that events flow past us like a river, the way the same things keep happening over and over again.
Since the dawn of time — not just in our lives, but in history too.
That’s what history is, as Marcus Aurelius said, whether it was the age of Vespasian, his own, or some time even more distant — it was people doing the exact same things: Being born, being fed & cared for, educating themselves, loving & losing, winning some, growing, working, marrying, raising children, taking care of elders, losing parents, family and friends, waging war, throwing parties, doing business, farming, flattering, boasting, distrusting, plotting, hoping others will die, complaining about their own lives, falling in love, putting away money, seeking high office and power, and above all else trying to be understood in this world and make their mark while at it, hoping for more, yet getting sick, & dying.
So much has changed over the course of a decade…
Yet so little remains changed as well. I got married again, I had kids (again), traveled all over the place, lived through a pandemic, lost my partner and the kid…
Tough breaks.
So, years later on the other shore of the river of Life now — everything seems different… yet everything remains the same.
Today, while I am re-reading a book I wrote in despair, feels weird. The words are the same, but the person who wrote them is not. The words are the same but the context around them is not. And now that book itself is being changed, updated, improved to fit this moment, this life, and future moments.
Because, when I wrote the book a little less than a decade ago, I was focused on the travails I had gone through, the obstacles I had seen and the tragedies I had experienced, and thus I was applying those same Stoic lessons mainly to the challenges of navigating the early stages of my second lease on Life, or what now is the third (ad infinitum) life, of making a dent in the Universe…
And the Universe denting me back, in as many vicious and visceral ways as there are stars in all the galaxies combined.
Yet, today, I can only say that I have survived. Maybe even thrived in some respects, and as I’m seeing the life years dwindling forward, and still having to live a decent life amidst the carnage of discontent, hate, division, moronic human incompetence in our leaders, and navigating wicked conflicts in the World, and nasty diseases that seek to efface the whole of the Human species like TB and others — I am still guided by the same principles to navigate the complexities of a life well lived, running a political party, being the Kingmaker, hanging multiple businesses, leading my people to freedom, living in a white marriage, and enjoying the perils of having dogs, cats, and folks, as house pets.
I recommend that you try it some times — its quite educational…
So, despite all of the ways my life and the whole world have changed, as I go back through the pages of my diary/calendar, the core principles still hold up. I am a Stoic, unapologetically living my Life of Truth, fearless Heroism, and Strife for the Survival of Human kind. That is my way of how I apply the Aurelian principles, and while all else remains the same, my mien is different, my mind is more supple, and my body is far more fragile — yet resilient.
Ahhh and before I forget — I am far more of a Stoic today, than I ever was at any time before in my life, and I can safely say that my grandfather Winnie was a stoic too, (it skips a generation) and I feel that I have to say that, because that was the big idea that Marcus Aurelius talked about, when saying that Heraclitus famously quipped, “You never step in the same river twice” something that Winston often misquoted by claiming that Seneca had said it.
That phrase along with the one that says “No Man is an Island” are diamonds.
Indeed same as a diamond remains one, even when hidden in the mud, so please remain a diamond person, by recalling, re-enacting, and reliving, the timeless wisdom of the Age of Stoicism, because it doesn’t change with Life’s changing fortunes, but what you become as an ancient Stoic, evolves as you realize that our sojourn in life is tough and then you die…
As expected.
Because that is to be the destiny of all of us, simple humans that we are… yet great souls that we exist eternally.
Therefore, please, keep the Spirit.
Keep it, because, I expect greatness from all of you.
Yours,
Dr Churchill
PS:
Along the way I learned a few things too…
I’ve learned…. That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I’ve learned…. That when you’re in love, it shows.
I’ve learned…. That just one person saying to me, ‘You’ve made my day!’ makes my day.
I’ve learned…. That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I’ve learned…. That being kind is more important than being right.
I’ve learned…. That you should never say no to a gift from a child.
I’ve learned…. That I can always pray for someone when I don’t have the strength to help him in some other way.
I’ve learned…. That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
I’ve learned…. That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold
and a heart to understand.
I’ve learned…. That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
I’ve learned…. That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I’ve learned…. That we should be glad God doesn’t give us
everything we ask for.
I’ve learned…. That money doesn’t buy class.
I’ve learned…. That it’s those small daily happenings that make
life so spectacular.
I’ve learned…. That under everyone’s hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I’ve learned…. That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I’ve learned…. That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I’ve learned…. That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I’ve learned…. That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I’ve learned…. That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile..
I’ve learned…. That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I’ve learned… That life is tough, but I’m tougher.
I’ve learned…. That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I’ve learned…. That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I’ve learned…. That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.
I’ve learned…. That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I’ve learned….. That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I’ve learned….. That when a newly born child holds your
little finger in her little fist — you’re hooked for life.
I’ve learned…. That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.
I’ve learned…. That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.