Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom

designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom every day life.

Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some

of history's greatest men and women.

For more you can visit us dailystoic.com.

People do a lot of things that feel mean, that frustrate us, that cause problems for

us, that make the world the worst place.

They vote for bad politicians, to say offensive things, they make messes, they mess stuff

up.

Naturally, our first instinct is to get upset about this.

We want to confront them about it, to hold them fully accountable for the consequences

of their behavior.

But it's worth stepping back and asking yourself first.

Are they really fully accountable?

Looking back at least a couple hundred years, we have the so-called Hanlon's razor, that

states we should never attribute to malice, will can easily be attributed to stupidity.

Meaning that most of the bad things people do are not done out of evil, but simple in competence.

Not everyone is as well educated as you, not everyone was raised to be responsible like

you were, not everyone is as talented as you, and it is this that explains most errors,

bad driving, and most of the litter you see on the street.

Remember this is what Marcus Aurelius was trying to say in the famous opening passage

of meditations.

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