I remember what he said to me when we were watching the Perseids, when he quoted Heraclitus. That there is an impermanence to all things, both good and bad. I thought it sounded either cynical or superbly Zen then. How he shrugged off the pain of being rejected over his acne, or denied the ache of living his uprooted life, his mother dying while he was still so young. Now I can’t help but think there’s a sort of defeatism to it. That it’s a coping mechanism. A way to keep the pain in check.
