Morning Philosophy
“We alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a useless character.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles' Funeral Oration (Book II)
Pericles reminds Athens that citizenship is not a passive inheritance but an active trust — neutrality in the face of public need is itself a kind of failure. For a cadet bound for law and command, this cuts against the temptation to retreat into private ambition once the uniform or the robe is earned. Today, look for the small civic debt you can pay: a mentorship offered, an injustice named, a duty discharged without being watched. Rome and Athens both forgot this lesson eventually; nations fall quietly when their ablest citizens decide public life is someone else's job.