Deep Something

Friendship and Impermanence

September 11, 2025September 12, 2025 B. John 1835 Views 0 Comments Impermanence, Friendship, Memory, Gratitude, Loss, Reflection, Pierre Hadot

Friendships are among life’s most unpredictable gifts. Some arrive for only a brief season, while others feel like they’ll last forever. Yet nothing is promised. A letter from an old college friend recently reminded me of this truth with painful clarity: he chose silence, not because of anger, but because life had drained him of the energy to stay connected. His message closed the door on our relationship, and with it came both relief and grief. Relief that I had not harmed the friendship, grief that its time had ended.
The Stoics teach us that everything we hold dear is on loan from fortune and will one day be reclaimed. That includes the people we love and the friendships that sustain us. Loss, they say, is not theft but the return of what was never fully ours. To see relationships this way doesn’t erase sorrow, but it reshapes it. Gratitude can take the place of clinging, and memory can remain as a reminder of both the gift and the impermanence of friendship.

Culture Deep Thoughts Featured Religion Stoicism

The Gift of Memento Mori

May 28, 2025May 30, 2025 B. John 3085 Views 3 Comments Friends, Family, life, Friendship, Memento Mori

That phrase—Memento Mori—means “remember that you must die.” It’s an old Stoic meditation, not meant to provoke dread but to awaken us… and remind us not to sleepwalk through our lives. The Stoic philosopher Seneca put it this way: “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing.”

Deep Thoughts Featured Society

My Creed

October 15, 2024October 4, 2025 B. John 3014 Views 2 Comments Responsibility, love, Friendship, Gratitude

I want there to be hearts that beat a little lighter just knowing I exist and there are smiles that bloom like sunlight when I cross their thoughts. I want my presence to bring a little warmth, ease, and joy to others’ lives. Friendship, to me, is a sacred bond, a quiet promise to be the reason someone feels seen and valued. I hold onto the knowledge that my existence makes a difference, and in turn, I strive to be someone worth remembering.

Entertainment Featured Friends Fun Stuff

The Last Great Day

May 31, 2013November 2, 2022 B. John 3130 Views 4 Comments Great Days, carpe diem, high school, Remembering, NPR, college, memories, Friendship

A brief portion of an NPR interview a couple of weeks ago set me off on a week of reflection and memories. Greta Gerwig said, “You don’t know when the last time of something happening is. You don’t know what the last great day you’ll spend with your best friend is. You’ll just know when you’ve never had that day again.” What are some of your last great days with friends?

Movies Featured Culture

Boy In The Striped Pajamas, The – A Movie Review

November 23, 2008 B. John 567 Views 0 Comments Holocaust, WW II, Nazi, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Cara Horgan, Drama, David Hayman, War, Asa Butterfield, hate, Jack Scanlon, War crimes, Vera Farmiga, Friendship

It is not often that I make a movie review one of our featured posts, but after my experience watching this movie, I realized that this was a movie that needs to be seen. It is a miraculous story with so many lessons about life and morality that I just don’t know where to begin. This is definitely a movie I may see again, and it’s certainly a movie I will encourage others to watch. Leaving the movie was like leaving a moving religious service.

Culture Movies Politics Society

Kite Runner, The

April 13, 2008 B. John 421 Views 0 Comments Pakistan, Afghanistan, Communists, Russians, Friendship, Reconciliation, Redemption, Marc Forster, The Kite Runner, Shaun Toub, Khalid Abdalla

In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It’s a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day’s victory, one boy’s fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right.