A Tribute to Keveen

Life is a path on a journey to a place that we know not of.

I want to walk it slowly, patiently with my head up, attentive to the landscape.

In the end it is a path that we must all walk alone. That is not to say that we don’t meet people on the way. Our paths run parallel to others and they seem to walk with us for a while. Some walk with us and, for a time amuse us, but they are quickly forgotten in the shadows of our past.

Others we will never forget.

I walked a while, a very short while, with Keveen Gabet, The Unforgettable, The Brightly Burning Candle, The Explorer; and I enjoyed the exchange. He is on a grand journey both literal and metaphorical. In his mid-twenties he has seen more of the world than I ever will. And he will go even farther—a lot farther, I think. He must be Thursday’s child.
Did I just meet a cheerful version of Lord Byron? A happy Thoreau? A gleeful Emersonian Man? In the end, I think I met a Keveen Gabet! A new and unique person, who is pushing the limits of what is possible in a human lifetime. He is a true and authentic, bohemian, explorer, poet, writer, and filmmaker who is figuring it all out as he goes. His teacher is the wind, the sand, the sea, the road, and all the people he meets and the places he sees.

As I said, Life is a path on a journey to a place that we know not of. That is not to say that we are not drawn to a certain end. The place we are going is already in us, and yet it is drawing us to where it is. It is a great tragedy, as Emerson noted, that conformity has wasted so many lives that have been lost to mediocre existence. We know, we sense, beyond reason what we should do, must do, but we don’t follow that pull, because people tell us how foolish we are, and they seem so sure that they know the right way for us to live our lives, they convince us to turn aside and do the sensible thing. And so we live lives that are empty, but we make enough money, do our duty, grow old and die, having lived “lives of quiet desperation.”
Keveen just goes where he wants to go, and does what he wants to do and is just crazy enough to take great risks, and with a certain ease walks into the hearts and lives of people, rich and poor, all around the world, with good humor, a charming smile and the innocence of a child.

And so Keveen, my blessing, for I was a priest, once:

May Love follow you, dwell in you, guide you, and protect you;
May Love take you far away and bring you home again.
Love be your mission and Love be your message,
Love be your companion
And Love be your champion,
Until I see you again, inshallah, my friend.