Cups

In class this week one of the most interesting topics that we talked about was the stoics point of view on how we should react to situations. They believe that we should not be overcome by our passions. To an extent, I would agree with how they feel about that. However, there are some things that I do not agree with them about. One example that we discussed in class was the breaking of a cup. We said that if a cup breaks and we are not the one who breaks it, then we would say, "it's just a cup. It's no big deal." Therefore, we should say the same thing if we are the one to break the cup. After that, we used the same theory to explain the loss of a child. I do not think that every situation can be viewed in the same way. First of all, the loss of a child is very different than the breaking of a cup. Past that, even if one was to view the loss of someone else's child and say, "that's life. Death is inevitable," they might feel completely different about their child. I know that stoics and Epitedus say that you should not feel differently, but the attachment that one has to a child of their own is much stronger than anything else. If it were my child, it would be impossible for me to detach myself that much and say my child was going to die anyways. The same goes for anyone I was close to or any family member. You might look at someone you don't know and not be too shaken up about their death. If it is someone you are very close to, however, it is a much different situation.