"Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends"

This quote by Ambrose Bierce speaks with the power of lack. He suggests that when someone is missing, they are basically forgotten. This is due to the fact that we are not able to engage with them, and so they end up being a far-off memory. Bierce suggests that we have no real "missing friends" due to the fact that we are unable to keep them in our lives. This is a sad reality, but it is also a pointer of the value of treasuring the people we have in our lives. We must strive to take advantage of our relationships and not take them for approved. Bierce's quote is a pointer that we should cherish the people we have in our lives, and not take them for given.