FRIENDSHIP

I have been friends with Americ for over 30 years. We have shared many adventures together, and oftentimes it seemed almost coincidence that he was there at the start of a new direction in my life.

I would like to share one such story that happened  many years ago when I first started in audio. I was sitting underneath a huge cypress tree at Lake Merritt in Oakland. It was a beautiful spring day, and I was resting my head on a laptop, my wife sitting serenely beside me, as my three young children romped in the park, running and jumping like little kids do. I had my eyes closed, when suddenly the thought of AUDIO came into my mind. It literally was a spark in the mind's eye. Yes, I said to myself, I would try audio and do voice over to see if conveying ideas through sound would help people understand this world a little better. I opened my eyes and Americ was standing over me looking down at me. I told him my idea and we shared the moment of inspiration together. I went on to do audio and voice, and  they became an integral part of my business effort in Internet Communications and Broadcasting.


If I could tell people how many times in my life that has happened with Americ, that is, being there at the exact moment of creation, they would laugh and say that such occurrences were not probable. Yes, they are improbable, but they are also possible, because they, in fact, happened to me. 


As a result, I was thinking about friendship and what it means, when I came across this short poem in my readings that I would like to share with you.

The young mendicant had been meditating deeply. Suddenly he awoke with a profound thought. He turned to the Buddha and exclaimed: 

"Lord, I've been thinking- spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!"

The Buddha replied, “This is not so, young priest. Spiritual friendship is the whole of spiritual life!"