Aperī oculōs meōs

Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur

Cicero

Art: Jean Giraud Moebius

If they avoid you,
set them free.
Let them go without bitterness,
for not everyone is meant to stand beside you
when the road turns heavy.

A man who knows his worth
does not chase fading footsteps
or plead for borrowed attention.
He stands firm, even in silence,
even when it costs him someone he cared for.

Walk away with your head held high,
with honor in your heart and fire in your spine.
For you know who you are,
at the core.

— Chamod Senevirathne

“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.”

Alexandre Dumas.

What It Means to Care

To care is not to hold tightly,
but to stay near.
To notice when the light shifts,
when a voice grows tired,
when silence asks for company.

To nurture is to tend
what is still becoming.
To offer patience instead of pressure,
warmth instead of answers,
space where something fragile
can learn it is safe.

To protect is not always to shield from pain,
but to stand as witness,
to say with your presence,
you are not alone in this.

These acts are done without being named.
They leave no trace, only a difference.
They mend the world quietly,
one heart at a time,
teaching us how to belong.

Rivers in the Ocean