17) Friendships That Will Last A Lifetime

I will never forget the friendships that I have with these guys. It was a mere coincidence that we happened to have the exact same classes during freshmen year and later became best friends without knowing much about each other. It was weird how one bus ride can change the next four years of my life.

On that bus, I met these two people who have similar names and looked almost exactly alike. Their name were Amara and Amaris. I never officially met them even though our cousins are best friends and we went to the same summer camp for three years. I didn't even know they were twins. I thought it was just two best friends dressing similar to each other. One day early in July, we got on the same bus. I quickly introduced myself and said hi. I don't remember what we were talking about but we had a conversation all the way home. Till this day, we always argued who got on the bus first but I think it was me since they have really bad memories. It will always be one of those funny stories to tell people. One thing led to another and I met Alex. We were talking about schools that we have attended and it so happened that we went to the same elementary school. We talked about all kind of things from our mean fourth grade teacher to our school's play. The next thing we know all four of us became best friends. I don't remember how it happened but I'm glad that it did.

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A friend is another self. This idea comes from Aristotle.  It speaks of the close attraction that binds two individuals together in a warm and affectionate relationship. Aristotle tells us that we need friends to distribute our virtues and morals to and in return they will do the same.  Amara, Amaris, and Alex are my another self. They are like my brother and sisters that I wish I never had. We share bonds that could never be broken. 

16) The Matrix and Buddhism

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In the Sci-Fi movie of The Matrix directed by The Wachowski Brothers, computer hacker Thomas Anderson also known as Neo has lived a relatively ordinary life until he is contacted by the mysterious Morpheus who leads him into the real world. The real world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. The computers have created a false version of 20th century life, the Matrix, to keep the human slaves satisfied, while the AI machines draw power from the humans. Anderson, pursued constantly by the Agents, is hailed as "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth.

The Matrix suggests Buddha’s Four Noble Truths that life is suffering. Morpheus said:

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"It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. A prison for your mind."

For almost two hundred years, humans has been living blindly only with their senses but not with their mind. The human's mind is locked up inescapable from the control of the Matrix. In doing so, they are suffering because whenever you are not in control of yourself you are being persecuted. Buddhism gives us life lessons that connect to freeing the mind. In order to cleanse your mind, you first need to cleanse your soul from all personal wrong doings.

Buddhism teaches the four noble truths, which provides an accepted view to the nature of reality, uplifting yourself from all suffering. We suffer when we do not get what we want. In the movie, the human race is suffering under the rule of the machines that they once created. Neo suffers from his desire in finding the truth to his "life." The second noble truth teaches the cause of suffering. In short, suffering is caused by one’s attachment to their world. If the true nature of this world is suffering, then the cause of suffering must be our attachment to it. As long as he desires to seek the truth, he will always suffer. According to the Four Noble Truths, you will no longer suffer when you free yourself from all desires. In the end, he ultimately reaches understanding of the Four Noble Truths, by being able to stop bullets, allowing him to defeat the agents. Neo no longer suffers by realizing that he is in a false world and chooses to see the truth of the Matrix and of his reality.

15) Groundhog Day Five Stages of Grief

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In the philosophical comedy film of Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis, Phil Connors is a TV meteorologist who discovers that he is reliving February 2. Groundhog Day is about a selfish man forced to spend his time in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania because of a freakish blizzard. The day goes on exactly as it did before with only Phil aware of the endless time loop he is in. At first, he takes full advantage of the situation with no fear of the consequences. Eventually, he gets desperate and tries everything to end the time loop such as giving an offensive reports on the festival and having a police chase. He even tries to kill both himself and the town's groundhog. At the end, Phil accepts his fate and spends the day helping people like the homeless guy on the street. He wakes the next morning to find out that the time loop is broken. According to Kubler-Ross, people who suffers from terminal illness or any form of catastrophically will experience the five stages of grief. In the midst of losing his freedom to escape Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Phil went through the five stages of grief.

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Phil Connors goes through the five stages in Groundhog Day. After he realizes that he is stuck in the same day, he perceives there are no consequences to his actions. When Phil starts to relive the same day, he is in the denial stage. Phil thinks he is having a deja vu and asks Rita to slap him in the face to wake him up. But denying it isn't going to do anything so then he goes to the next stage which is anger. He realizes that he is actually reliving the same day and he starts to get mad. He punches the guy on the street and start doing crimes. He takes advantage of the women like Nancy. Then he gets to the next stage, bargaining. He starts to get tired of the day and just wants to leave it or get rid of it. Since Punxsutawney Phil is the main figure of Groundhog Day, he tries kidnapping it in hope that the time loop will end but unfortunately it does not. After he realizing that he couldn't get Rita, he starts to enter the depression stage. Phil He can’t take advantage of Rita because he has feelings about her and he doesn't want to hurt her. He tries committing suicide several times from electrocuting himself in the bathroom to jumping off a building. Finally, Phil enters the acceptance stage. He accepts his fate and decides to live the day like it never happened and just being normal. Phil begins to wonder how he might use his time in the town to serve others and make a better person of himself.