Dear Ana Lucia and Patricia Elena, and all Vlieg and Quintero family members,

I said at Ana’s book presentation that I was very proud to know all of you. I think I misspoke. For it is probably more humility than pride that I feel to know you and to witness your way. I believe that every door we open in life leads to several more, to passageways we could not see and are thus not cognizant of until we pass through that first door. Meeting you has been passing through one such door. You remind me or make me aware of so many things in life of which we should all take notice, but for perceived distractions, we miss. We fail to reflect often on the simply the pleasure of being alive, of Earth’s details, or of our own diminutiveness on its surface.

I’m sorry that you can’t even read this, Ana and Patricia. I used to think language such a powerful medium, so fascinating, and the written word even more sophisticated and rewarding. Now I can’t even communicate with you through it. How limited it actually is! How specific our circumstances and fragile our paradigms. How naïve we are.

This reminds me, though, of all that maybe I can’t see, and of how little I know. That the spectrum of visible light and colors which I admire, for example, are but a fraction of an electromagnetic universe between radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, x, and even gamma rays is a phenomenon that astounds me. And how little I hear! Perhaps the music that I love is also but a miniscule portion of another, ever larger, even universal symphony. Certainly, then, the poetry we engender, the language through which we verbalize our contemplativeness, the very creativity we forge, are articulated only through the known realm of communications: notes, sounds, letters. As far as we know yet, we are still shadow watchers and listeners in Plato’s multi-media cave.

But, like the Zen say, true communication needs not words. It is felt, not heard. It needs not expression. It simply is.

Your being is such. It brings me closer to the Being that goes by many names and is known by many notions. Sometimes it is an emotional experience only to hear you sing out in Christo Rey. Through your media – of music, poetry, love, language, thirst for Truth, and acceptance, many are brought closer to understanding the One, although they may be unaware of it. How much I love your music. How impressed I am with your ability to love. How beautiful a wedding is with your voices involved. How expressive and “universal” is the language of music. How exalted I feel in the midst of these entities and in your presence. These are the things I do know. Most importantly, I know and tell you now that I am glad to have met you.

Thank you for being you. And the best of luck to you on your new adventures. Who can imagine what we all have yet to know? I look forward to experiencing it together with you, through the wonderful and certain phenomenon of friendship.

Peace,
Glenn Yeck

Jan 14, 1997
Panama