A View Across the Rooftops

One doesn't know how brave one is until the cost outweighs the fear.

I taught mathematics here at the university for many years. But before that time, I used to create beautiful music with my beloved wife, who passed away. Her name was Sarah.” He paused for a moment to gather himself after uttering her name, but then continued. “I didn’t play for many years after she died, but one thing that loss has taught me is that keeping a gift locked away only brings harm. It is essential to express ourselves. Walls and doors keep out not just the bad but also the good. It is our job to own the keys of our freedom, and to be able to open those doors. I spent many years behind a closed door without knowing where to find the key to my life, but thanks to my music, I am now finding my way out. To quote an extraordinary but lesser-known philosopher, my late wife Sarah Held, ‘What is life without the beauty of art or music or poetry to help us interpret it, encourage us to know how to feel, how to love and how to live?’ In music I see the darkness, the light, the messiness, the beauty, and the complexities of life that simply can’t be summed up like an equation. Music, for me, helps bring down the walls, to open those locked doors. And I hope it has been that way for you too, tonight.

There was something so wrong about war, something so horrific and soul-destroying that she hadn't ever contemplated, until now, as the senseless loss of life crushed her. On one side you were crippled by it; on the other side you were the perpetrator of it. There were no winners

I am battle-worn without lifting a weapon And scarred without a cut to my flesh But still I will lift up my head. Still I will not give up the fight.

Sometimes the most courageous love is whispered in the quietest moments.

music or poetry to help us interpret it, encourage us to know how to feel, how to love and how to live?

To Josef. Sometimes the most courageous love is whispered in the quietest moments.

One doesn’t know how brave one is until the cost outweighs the fear.

She was charmed, reminded that not everything was swept away by such desperate times; innocence still prevailed. Teeth fell out of children’s mouths, and swallows still built spring nests.

around her, his mouth finding hers in a passionate kiss. In the distance, a voice called for them. Sarah grabbed Josef by his shirt collars and pulled him down into a dip among the tulips as the long veil, whipped up by the wind, entwined the pair of them. “Shhh,” she whispered. “If we stay still and out of sight, Mama will not find us.” “I’m not complaining,” Josef