Stoic Compassion: Should I Be Understanding Toward Terrorists?

[image: a gallows hangs near the United States Capitol during the 2021 riots, Wikipedia]

Sometimes it is difficult to really practice Stoicism, or any serious philosophy or religion. Which is as it should be. If things were always easy according to one’s philosophy of life one could reasonably doubt the effectiveness of such philosophy. Rarely has my Stoicism been put through a difficult test as during and after the recent events in Washington, DC. From my point of…