For my second Instagram post of Stoic quotes, I posted this one that I found in Google. This quote is coming from my favorite Stoic, Marcus Aurelius, and the meaning resonated hard in me.
Using my Photoshop template, I entered the words and imported the photo. I posted it excitedly on Instagram and lo and behold, I got this response from Instagram.
My first reaction is, of course, disgust. How could anyone say that this is false information when this is just everywhere on the Internet? I thought of making a follow-up post and go ranting about how could someone say that I am spreading false information. I wanted to blast Instagram for such sacrilege of my man, Marcus Aurelius.
My Stoic self, however, luckily kicked in so I placed my ego aside and with full humility clicked on the included link for the explanation. There and then I found out that some guys from politifact.com studied this quote thoroughly and yes, I am convinced that this can be categorized as false information. This is not directly said by the emperor.
However, I did not delete my post since I do not really have a follower at all so technically I am not spreading false information here. An even deeper reason is that even though I found out that the quote is not from Marcus Aurelius, I still believe in the quote. My opinion of the quote still stands, however, I am now informed that this is not an authentic Marcus Aurelius quote.
Two lessons I have learned from this:
- I am still a novice as a Stoic.
- I should verify the sources of what I post.
Thanks for reading about my opinions. I hope I did not waste your time.