Some things never change.

 I'm not sure how many of these reflection posts I'm going to wind up doing. For tonight, I want to talk about something I found really reassuring T5FSOB: how many of the things people struggle with today were apparently still issues hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of years ago. On the one hand, I guess it's a little depressing that we're still grappling with so many issues, it's also comforting to see that the world is still spinning, and mostly better, even if we haven't entirely fixed them. We still grapple with how to govern like Hobbes and Machiavelli. We still have all manner of moral, emotional, and philosophical issue that Ben Franklin and Marcus Aurelius talked about. Locke wrote about using what we would call "gamification" over 300 years ago. 

I guess it's also kind of disappointing that we're still arguing about some stuff that was mostly "solved" hundred of years ago, but that's part of being free, I guess. People are welcome to be morons about stuff that their great great great grandparents could've read a book about (if they could read). But, overall, it's comforting to me. People make a big deal about how the times we live in are so horrible, stressful, etc. and how happy people used to be. It's nice to see that they worried about a lot of the same things (maybe today isn't so bad) and to learn from them to hopefully deal with those issues in our own lives. I think the example that most resonated with me was Cicero's.

9. Nor, again, do I now MISS THE BODILY STRENGTH OF A YOUNG MAN (for that was the second point as to the disadvantages of old age) any more than as a young man I missed the strength of a bull or an elephant. You should use what you have, and whatever you may chance to be doing, do it with all your might.

I don't necessarily worry about old age a ton (yet), but I like that when I do I can hopefully frame it like this. There were always things I couldn't do, and I tried not to get hung up on them before. Enjoy and do you best at what you an do, and you'll be happier and more successful than if you worry about what you can't. Really, that's good advice for life in general, not just aging.