A few months ago, the folks at the Daily Stoic Store came out with a 1.5-inch diameter coin (similar in size and coloring to some challenge coins I've seen) bearing the motto
Memento Mori (Latin for "remember you must die"), with a quote from Aurelius on the reverse ("You could leave life right now"). The idea of the coin is to serve as a reminder not to waste one's time, because eventually, that will run out and so, in the interim, wouldn't it be a grand idea to do something worthwhile? I've found the coin serves to refocus me at the oddest times, away from stuff that's not terribly important and toward the stuff that counts.
A second coin has been issued, this one with the motto
Amor Fati ("Love [your] fate"), a Nietschean idea that entreats the listener to make the best of whatever happens. The designers chose to symbolize the idea with a flame, illustrating yet another observation of Aurelius’s, to the effect that "a blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it."
As I had never given the idea of
Amor Fati much thought before, I sat down and decided to do so. It then suddenly occurred to me that essentially the same idea has re-emerged in recent years among people in the military, albeit in new language:
Embrace the suck.Okay, so it's not exactly a translation (and anyone who would trust me to translate Latin needs their head examined, but I digress...), as the Latin original does appear to be more evenhanded and non-judgmental about the things that happen in life, i.e., embrace whatever it is that happens to you, I think it's pretty clear that nobody needs encouragement to enjoy things that are pleasant, and so, the updated, somewhat vulgar version cuts right to the chase—some situations are downright unpleasant, but you should embrace them with the same spirit.
Cheers...
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