In the year I was born, while your mother admired Grace Kelly acting in "The Country Girl", my mother was worried sick about how to provide for her family because all the shops were empty during Europe’s economic depression of 60's.

When you were a child, your father was taking you on mad journeys to watch the Boston Celtic games (you remember the smell of leather seats in your old Cadillac on the wild drives to Boston...) and children’s’ morning shows at Radio City - I wish I had with me at least one of my parents, both of whom worked 25 hrs a day to make ends meet.

When a life size stuffed horse was displayed in Schwartz’s shop window on 5th Avenue fascinated you... (you finally got it on your sixth birthday) I admired distant ships floating in the bay from a branch of my favorite tree. I was dreaming of discovering the New World.

Than high school, college, first puppy - loves, girls and enchantments...

You were discovering spiritual values in Tibet and I was in charge of summer camps for Christian Scouts.

I dreamt I would be a film director one day... you had your feet firmly on the ground accepting either a job on Wall Street.

I remember there was a moment when our lives crossed - it was in the Central Park - on the film set: "The Fisher King"... do you remember - this meadow late at night illuminated by lights from skyscrapers along with the stars sailing around your head from the navy blue sky,

You gave a speech about what it means to be free...

Yes I will remember that lesson... for my entire life.

There is nothing you can do if people's only aesthetical experiences to mention spiritual ones come from worrying about the color of their new Buick.

"The Sunflowers" by Van Gogh... It is much more than just a beautiful painting.

It is something you cannot express with words. It is a state of mind and spirit. It took me so many years to get to know this. But shamefully not so many contemporaries of his understood the same. Although there are people who are willing to pay million dollars for a painting they cannot afford something that is priceless. Fools! They don't know that there are things which are not for sale! Like their souls which they have lost on their way. They will not buy them out, for sure. Not at any price. Great Joker, who gives away paints out of his palette with generous hand, can also be demanding and hard on me...

Well... life is arranged in such a way... Few human beings...

I remember me standing by the window at dusk in Somerville (near New York), watching that several - story building opposite.

I could see a man in one of the windows - always at the same time.

He would light a candle on his piano and play. Was he playing Bach, Coltrane or Chopin?

I couldn't hear his music.

But there was something else.

I could see that music.

Far away - somewhere on the horizon - there was a flaming sky - reflecting the lights of the Big Apple. But that tiny flame of the candle was worth much more than all that floodlight of New York...

Only true love can be unselfish.

Even if it is music that is such love.

When you meet that guy from Somerville one day - say hello from me. He deserves it. He loves music.

My dream is to do, what I really love, one day...

These photographs are all I have for you, only so little.

But maybe I can say – I hope you'll understand - so much.

- JORDAN

P.S.
Funny enough I always thought this kind of thing(s) happen only in movies...

*****

Other Story...
John Steinbeck "East of Eden"

Ten years nearly, said Lee." Well, the story bit deeply into me and I went into word for word. The more I thought about the story, the more profound it became to me. There was only one place that bothered me. The King James version says this-it is when Jehovah has asked Cain why he is angry. Jehovah says, 'If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.' (---) Lee sipped his coffee. "Then I got a copy of the American Standard Bible. It was never new then. And it was different in this passage. It says, 'Do thou rule over him.' Now this is very different. This is not a promise, it is an order. And I began to stew about it. I wondered what the original word of the original writer had been that these very different translations could be made." (---) "Lee, he said," don't tell me you studied Hebrew! "Lee said," I'm going to tell you. (---) "I respectfully submitted my problem to one of these Chinese sages, read him the story, and told him what I understood from it. The next night four of them met and called me in. We discussed the story all night long. "Can you imagine four old gentleman, the youngest is over ninety now, talking on the study of Hebrew? (---) "After two years we felt we could approach your sixteen verses of the fourth chapter of Genesis. My old Chinese gentleman felt that these words were very important too 'Thou shalt.' and 'Do thou.' And this was the gold from our mining: 'Thou mayest.' ;thou mayest rule over sin. The old gentleman smiled and nodded and felt the years were well spent. It brought them out of their Chinese shells too, and right now they are studying Greek. "Samuel said, "It's fantastic story. And I've tried to follow and maybe I've missed somewhere. Why is this word so important? "Lee's hand shook as he filled the delicate cups. He drank his down in one gulp. „Don't you see?" he cried. „The American Standard translation orders man to triumph over sin and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in 'Thou shalt', meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel - 'Thou mayest'- that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ' Thou mayest'- it also true that ' Thou mayest not.' Don't you see?”(---) And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing - maybe more important than a star. I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because...

Thou mayest. - Timshel