Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holliday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom, and insights from parents just like you all over the

world. Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Are you the splendid or the vile?

In 1940, as Nazi bombs rained down on London, an observer noted the contrast between the natural

splendor and human vileness.

This idea, which inspired Eric Larson's wonderful book, The Splendid and the Vile, would be

borne out over the next several months, not just the bombs falling in one of the world's great

cities, but also the human resilience and the heroism

in response to such villainy and evil. The splendid and the vile. It's always there. They are

two sides of the coin, the yin and the yang of life. Look back at the last few years, there was a

pandemic, which was tragic and painful and scary, and there was also the way that the world

came together, at least in those early months. There was was also the way that the world came together,

at least in those early months.

There was also all the time that you and your family

got to spend together, a gift in exchange

for all that was taken away.

And it's been like this throughout history too,

children who grew up in terrible neighborhoods

but came home to wonderful loving families.

Conversely, there were terrible families

whose children found

...