← The Daily Stoic
Loading summary
Transcript2 lines
- [00:01]
A
Basically, since the early days of launching Daily stoic, which was 10 years ago this year we have been using today's sponsor, Shopify. If you've bought anything from the Daily Stoic store, if you've bought anything online or in person at the Painted Porch, then you have also used Shopify. We use it because it's the best. We use it because it helps keep the lights on. And I even had the founder of Shopify, Tobias Lutke, on the podcast a couple of years back because he's also a fan of stoicism. Look, to use Shopify, you don't have to be a technical genius, you don't have to be a big business. Although you can be. They've got plenty of resources to help you make your store work the way you want it to. Shopify also has a bunch of helpful AI tools you can use to write product descriptions, page headlines, even enhance your product photography. Best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping, to processing returns and beyond. And if you get stuck, Shopify is always there to help with their award winning 247 customer support. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at shopify.com stoic go to shopify.com stoic welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, wisdom into the real world. Three books that I read in high school that I'm rereading now and you should too. All right, so actually this year is the hundred year anniversary of the Great Gatsby. This is the copy that I read in high school. I actually. But There's a new 100 year edition published by Scribner's that's really, really good. This is the edition that I reread. As the ancients said, we never step in the same river twice. So I'm not the same person I was when I read this when I was 15 or 16. I'm not the same person I was when I reread it when I was 25 or 30 or 35. And rereading it now for probably the 10th time, I'm a different person and you know, you always take different things from the books. What I like about this is my edition. You can see the different color highlighters, the different color notes. I clearly spilled food on it at some point. When I read this in high school, I thought it was about the jazz Age. I thought it was about corruption. I thought it was about power. I thought about it was the American dream. And as I read it, when I'm older, I'm struck even by just the first lines. In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you have. When I graduated from high school in June 2005, my aunt gave me a copy of Man's Search for Meaning. Ryan, this is one of my mom's favorite books. I think there is great value between these covers. I wanted to pass on part of your grandmother to you on your graduation. Congratulations on your life's path. This is one of the most incredible books you will ever read. Viktor Frankl is in three different concentration camps. He loses his family, he loses his wife, he loses his life's work. And yet he comes out of it convinced that life does still have meaning. That while struggle is unavoidable, our job is to take that struggle and that suffering and to turn it into something. This is one of the bestselling books of all time for very good reason. This was an incredible man with an incredible story. There's also a sequel, basically, to this book that came out during the pandemic that I was really struck by. It's a collection of his essays. It's called yes to Life in Spite of Everything, which is a perfect encapsulation of the wisdom of Viktor Frankl's thinking that. That we say yes, we keep going despite everything. And reading this book at 18, I hadn't really gone through anything. And so I could only understand what he was saying at one level. And as I've lived the last 20 plus years of my life, I've come to understand these ideas more and more and more. And I think you will, too. The last one, I read Fahrenheit 451 in high school, and I remember thinking that it was about government censorship, that the government sends their firemen to destroy books because they're, you know, in a Big Brother way, trying to prevent people from access to information. But when you reread this book now, in light of our current culture and political environment, you realize that's only a small part of it, that actually the censorship was coming primarily from the bottom up. That it was people not wanting to be offended, not wanting to deal with unpleasant or difficult ideas. That was the pain that they were trying to solve by burning the books. There's a passage in the book that I guess I missed as a high schooler trying to just write an essay about the book. Where Captain Beaty explains to Montag why the books are banned. He says colored people don't like little black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book about tobacco and canc. Cancer of the lungs. The cigarette people are weeping. Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, to the incinerator. Forget it all. Burn it all. Burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean. You just realize so often that what you read the first time was only hitting you at some level, and that there's a deeper understanding, there's a deeper level that all this is working on. And of course, now as they're banning books all over Texas, as people are asking for safety spaces, and at the same time, there is real government censorship, which I myself have personally experienced, you realize that this book is more timely and timeless than ever. Inspired by Fahrenheit 451, we are turning the storefront next to my bookstore, the painted porch, here in Bastrop, Texas, into a banned book library, a free lending library where people can take and leave any banned book that they want totally for free. It's a service. It can't be shut down. If you want to help support us in this banned book library, send us a banned book. We'll put it there or come by. Donate one, take one, whatever. We'd love to have you. We'd love to have your support. You can send those books right now, though, to 912 Main street here in Bastrop, Texas, and we'll put it in our new banned book library.
- [06:34]
B
Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years now. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com find a rate that works for you with the name your price tool. Progressive casualty Insurance company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law.