"Difficulties are the things that show what men are."

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Rick Rescorla was in his office on the 44th floor of the South Tower. He was the head of security for Morgan Stanley. At 8:46 AM, the first plane hit the North Tower, the explosion shaking the complex.

The Port Authority came over the PA system. They told everyone in the South Tower to remain calm and stay at their desks. They said the building was secure. Rescorla ignored them. He grabbed his bullhorn and told his employees, "Everything above where you are is dead. Everyone else, move."

He didn't panic or scream. He executed a plan he had practiced for years. He had forced the bankers and traders to run evacuation drills every three months, and they hated him for it. They thought he was paranoid.

Now, as the smoke filled the air, Rescorla was the calmest man in New York. He marched thousands of people down the stairs. To keep their spirits up, he sang Cornish folk songs and "God Bless America" into the bullhorn. He was a rock in the middle of the apocalypse.

He successfully evacuated 2,687 employees. Then he went back up to look for stragglers. He was last seen on the 10th floor, climbing upward, shortly before the tower collapsed.

Epictetus says that difficulties don't make the man. They reveal him. The attack didn't give Rescorla his courage. It just showed the world what he had already built inside himself. He had spent a lifetime training for that moment.

When the difficulty comes, it's too late to prepare. It's too late to build character. The crisis is just the final exam. You've either done the homework or you haven't.

Errors & Corrections

• Don't believe the PA system. When the world tells you to "stay calm and do nothing" but your gut says "move," trust your gut. The crowd is usually wrong. The herd freezes while the Stoic acts.
• Don't rise to the occasion. We think we will become heroes when the moment strikes. You won't. You'll fall to the highest level of your training. If you haven't drilled the escape, you'll die in the fire. Train when it's boring so you survive when it's exciting.
• Don't let them see you shake. Rescorla was terrified. He knew the towers were structurally unsound, but he sang. A leader absorbs the fear of the tribe and reflects back confidence. Your composure is their survival.

Applications to Modern Life

Work

The server crashes during a major launch. The CEO is screaming. The clients are calling. This is your Rescorla moment. Don't join the chaos. Don't yell back. Pull out the disaster recovery plan you wrote three months ago, and follow the steps. Your calm execution saves the company, not your emotional reaction.

Leadership

Your company announces layoffs. The team is terrified. If you hide in your office, you fail. Walk the floor. Be visible. Tell them the truth, even if it's hard. Sing the song. They need to see that you're still standing so they can believe they'll stand too.

Athleticism & Sport

You're down by three goals. The other team is celebrating. The "difficulty" has arrived. It reveals who on your team is a front-runner and who is a fighter. The Stoic athlete plays harder when they're losing. They use the deficit as a chance to show their resilience.

Politics

Watch how a leader handles a natural disaster. Do they blame the other party? Do they focus on their poll numbers? Or do they put on their boots and go to the flood zone? The crisis cuts through the PR spin and shows you the human being underneath.

Social Media

You get mobbed online. Thousands of notifications. People telling you to kill yourself. This reveals your foundation. If you built your self-worth on likes, you collapse. If you built it on your own principles, you turn off the phone and go for a walk. The mob is just noise.

Interpersonal Relationships

A medical emergency hits your family. A diagnosis. A car accident. This is the test. Do you fall apart and make the patient comfort you? Or do you become the advocate? Do you take notes? Do you drive the car? Be the person who functions when everyone else is crying.

Maxims

• Crisis reveals character.
• You don't rise to the occassion; you fall to your preparation.
• Sing when the building shakes.

In-depth Concepts

Peristaseis (Circumstances)

Epictetus uses this word to mean the events that surround us. They're the raw material of life, neither good nor bad. A fever is a peristaseis. A shipwreck is a peristaseis. The only good or bad is the character we use to meet them.

Paraskeuē (Preparation)

The Stoic life is constant paraskeuē. We practice poverty to prepare for loss. We practice silence to prepare for insults. Rescorla drilled the evacuation so that when the fire came, the "courage" was actually just muscle memory.