What can change the nature of a man?

Is it fear?

Could it be that simple?

What about power, health, or the wealth afforded to us in our blessings - in our society?

No.

We dare not think, to spell out on our lips those words, that wrong answer to our question.

What cuts deep into the nature of men, twists it from the inside, is the bitter taste of... regret.

Regret. Can regret change the nature of a man?

To wander through life missing the spheres of opportunities lost to us? Is that our nature?

That can't be right. A man's life is not the life has not lived.

No, nothing material can change the nature of a man.

What, then, can change the nature of a man?

Love.

It is love.

We find ourselves, we discover who we are in the bonds and gratitudes that we owe each other. In this procession of souls that will never end, we are forever after the ties that behind us together. Through every lover, every friend, every family member that we love, and whom we learn from. And then, when all is said is done, they have to go. They have to leave us behind. Leaving a mark on our hearts, forever. Leaving a lesson within their own life's breath. Your breath; our breath. They are one and the same thing now. Your breath that we must exhale for the rest of our lives. And we are glad to live that privilege. The gift of life - offered to us through you.

You will be with us forever. Your love is buried deep within our hearts. It was the relativity of time and space that brought us together. From nights on end we watched ourselves - you knew our pain was the same. Now we are becoming one. From the moment you graced our lives, to the moment when we will all cross the Rubicon - we are still a part of you, even if you cannot feel us. Now reborn in your love - your essential nature - eternity will blend our minds in one.

What does one life matter?

We look into the mirror and see your light - reflected in another pair of eyes. When you suffered, your spirit echoed it, and when you were in pain, your pain became ours. And when you die, a piece of us dies as well.

So what does on life matter?

Everything to everyone who is touched by that one life.

You brought a smile on everyone's lips with your wittiness, your charismatic and noble willingness to not fear to play the fool. The fool, yes, - and the genius. No matter if the life you touched was a stranger, you knew how to get them choking on their laughter. Your ability to find the light side of any situation has touched us all. We will carry it forever. The noble fool's errand to enlighten others.

What, then, about the genius I mentioned? The genius coupled in your charisma.

Everyone who knew you, who played music with you, or just simply heard you, could not believe themselves. Music theory wasn't just something you learned - that you understand. The symbols of music, the language, was written into your internal language of thought. You could figure out how to play anything handed to you, within minutes. You had a gift that the artists you respected, that you loved, would have envied deeply.

We hope with all of our hearts that you knew that. That you saw that within yourself - and cherished it. That you cherished it as much as you nurtured it in your many years of writing and playing.

When Full Measure faded out of your life, something of your essence, your connection to music... died within you. Too many painful memories associated with your lifelong friends. Even then, you would still bust out the guitar, or a midi keyboard, and would play and write in perfect form. Even a decade later.

You deserved more. You always deserved more than you got. For what you put into your art, into your friends, into everyone you knew and loved.

This world snuffed out a beautiful soul too soon for its time. That is true. But you live within us forever, and your gifts, your genius, will live on.

You will live on. We will live on - through you. Forever.