Imagine that tomorrow is the worst day of your life
Everything is ruined. You lose your job, your house, your partner and your life savings. Within a single day, you are destitute outside of your family.
Who do you turn to? Which of your friends do you know would be there to help? Whose face is it who answers the door to let you in from the cold?
It’s a curious fact that not all of our friendships are equal. Some of them are fun and frothy and some are hugely serious.
Some are lifelong familiars and others occasional and fleeting. But for Epicurus, the greatest gift a true friend can give you is there, simply being there.
A human life is not a flat line
A human life is not a flat line, but rather a motley of ups and downs, the world can shift so quickly it can leave us feeling dizzy and lost, which is why we need a handrail to keep us steady, and there is no greater support than the good friend.
But it’s not so much the fact that the friend will be there, but rather the knowledge that they will be there like some safety net below a tightrope.
Having of a friend steadies our walk
Having of a friend steadies our walk across the precipice, as Epicurus writes, it is not so much our friend’s help that helps us as the confidence of their help.
When we know that we always have somebody to rely on, we have a house to stay in, or a hands to lift us up, then life and its trials can seem more manageable for Epicurus, true friendship means that no matter what, you’ll always have somebody to have your back. A human life is not a flat line, that means we will have ups and downs.
Who was Epicurus?
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was known for his wisdom and born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents.