It’s very easy to be jaded. It’s very easy to be cynical. The system is, as it was in Rome, hopelessly broken. Corruption, dishonesty, and stupidity are all widespread. The odds are impossible. The problems enormous. So why care? Why even try?

The answer, the Stoics would say, is because you matter. Because an individual can make a difference. Imagine if Epictetus had told himself that all was hopeless and that Rome was impossible to change or correct. Not only would his life have been different…but so would Marcus Aurelius’ and millions of other Romans.

General James Mattis reminds us that cynicism is a form of cowardice. It is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we tell ourselves it’s pointless, that we can’t make a difference, that we don’t matter…we’re right. But it’s worse than that. Because someone will step in to fill that void. And it’s likely this person who you will be deferring to is allied with the people and the forces that made you cynical in the first place.

Anton DiSclafani wrote a recent piece about his decision to vote in a primary in his state in the Deep South, even though his political preferences were not even close to being represented. As it happens, in choosing between the lesser of two evils, DiSclafani cast the deciding vote in the election–it was literally decided by one vote!

This is why we can’t give up. Why we have to believe in our own agency. Because one person can, and often does, make a difference.