Years ago he stated, “At the end of my life I want a library of my own writings and not a library written by others.” A4Y is delighted to have access to that library. 67 journals that sit on a hand-crafted, oak stained bookcase that scream of stories from over 45 countries and territories stretching to the far corners of our globe. 67 journals of testimonies that depict art and smart, places and war torn faces, conversations that are fondly remembered and those that are nearly forgotten. Page upon page upon page of pen to paper. Adjectives and adverbs, idioms and clichés, sentences that run on for miles and miles, and an absolute historic truth that was written in each moment that lends one to step through a prism called timeless and vividly recall experiences from long ago that are still reveled in today.
Remember running out of air at 180 feet while staring pie-eyed at the sheer size of the SS Thistlegorm in the majestic Red Sea? What about the most perilous spot on the side of a road just outside of Managua, Nicaragua where he had to run for his life from some fellas that were looking to carry out a malicious act? Lest not forget boarding the most crowded train in the history of the world on Platform 18 in the most crowded city in the history of the world called Calcutta. Dang… who could forget the two foolish, elderly, Chinese women swept out to sea while rinsing their sandy feet in the raging waters during the evil eye of the raging typhoon called Perilous. Each scripted depiction served up like side dishes adjacent to great entrees on porcelain plates that would otherwise be eaten and forgotten if not written about in a journal of devotion and commitment every morning while sipping a lovely cup of local tea. It’s not just the discipline of chronicling, which could be easily forgotten, it’s the art of recording history. Everybody is walking their life path. One step at a time we accumulate miles upon miles under each foot. Let’s say that we all end up to be 92 years old and have accumulated a 1000 stories to tell…or not. It doesn’t make his accumulation of stories depicted any more or less compelling than any other storyteller but what it does do, what it simply provides, at the very least is a lovely collection of ornamental artifacts that sit comfortably in a corner where he resides reminding him that there are more places to go, more experiences to grasp and an opportunity to add an addition shelf to that crowded handmade, oak stained bookcase to fill up in the years to come.