On the material at hand

The line answers a specific complaint. A man had come to Epictetus asking how he might stop his brother's anger toward him, and Epictetus refused the premise: philosophy does not hand you power over another person's temper. It hands you your own life as raw stock. The carpenter does not choose his timber's grain; he chooses what to make of it. Your brother's conduct belongs to his craft, not yours. What you shape is your own response, and that is material enough for a lifetime of work.

This week in Pasay City, the Coconut Palace reopened to the public, designed by National Artist Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa and renowned for building beauty out of ordinary, indigenous, coconut-based materials. The lesson holds beyond architecture. Most people wait for finer wood: a calmer family, a better job, a temperament they were not issued. Epictetus says the ordinary stock in front of you is the only material you will ever be given. The question is not whether it is grand. The question is what you build.