It’s always been tempting to talk a good game. People have been doing it for thousands of years. But today, it’s never been easier to talk and virtue-signal. There are whole social networks designed to enable you to do this. They reward you for what you say, for the image you project. They don’t much care for what you do.

It’s like technology intersected with our worst impulses and our weakest tendencies. “l have a horror of words that are not translated into deeds,” Theodore Roosevelt once said, “of speech that does not result in action.” Marcus Aurelius reminded himself that he should not waste one more minute arguing about what a good man was like, that his job was to “be one.” Epictetus put it better than both of them: “Don’t talk about your philosophy, embody it.”

Well, here we are in a moment where it’s time to put up or shut up. People are suffering and need help. Events are rippling through the world that would scare or intimidate any person. All the reading and writing and discussions we’ve had over the years—about what heroes look like, about what our duties as citizens are, about how to respond to and triumph over adversity? Well, this is not a drill. That bill is now due. That opportunity is here. 

What will you do? It’s time to step up—as Marcus Aurelius did during the plague. As Cato did during the collapse of the Republic. As Washington did in 1776. As Stockdale did in that prison camp. As Stoics have done all throughout history. Now is not the time to talk. It’s the time to help. To do good. To prove your ideals. To turn your words into actions, to show the deeds of a philosopher. 

Today. Tomorrow. Always.

P.S. This was originally sent on May 20, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.