He said afterwards, “I just thought it was awesome,” but the video doesn’t lie. Kole Calhoun was frustrated. This kid reaches up and snags the foul ball that Calhoun, the right fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, was just about to grab for the easy out.

Players love the fans, but they hate stuff like this. The game is already so tough. Players already have to worry about crowd noise, now they have to worry about crowd interference?

But what’s so noteworthy about this moment—and you really should watch the video—is that despite Kole’s immediate and visible frustration, he doesn’t get upset. He doesn’t yell. He doesn’t say or do anything at all for a full beat. He takes a breath, he reaches over and then he gives the kid a fist bump…telling him to be ready to be the #1 play on SportsCenter that night.

After the game, Kole was philosophical about the whole thing: “It brings out the kid in you. It kind of brings some perspective. That’s why we play the game. That kid is never going to forget that. What a moment for him.”

Remember: The Stoics are not superhuman. They are very much human—they have preferences, they have frustrations. What makes them extraordinary is their ability to rise above these emotions and impulse reactions to behave the right way. To actually behave the way they always

hoped they would when they contemplated the uncertainties that come with adversity.

In a sense, this is what makes this video clip so impressive. If Calhoun simply didn’t care about what happened to the ball, if he was going through the motions on the field, then his poise in the situation wouldn’t mean anything—it wouldn’t even be poise. It’s that he grabbed hold of himself and stopped himself from getting (very understandably) upset, that makes this so impressive. Calhoun practiced the pause between stimulus and response…and was greater for it.

Seneca said that delay was the best remedy for anger. Perspective, as Calhoun said, is a close second. He was able to see it from the viewpoint of a kid and a fan, uncolored from his own drive to win or get the out. He was able to calm himself down. He was able to make the most of the situation and, in the process, teach that kid a wonderful lesson in sportsmanship.

A lesson we could all stand to re-learn, right now, today.