My friend Andrius, his friends,and "If" February 12, 2012

Last night Andrius and I were catching up with each other on a Skpe voice chat. He shared a link with me  to a series of videos - http://www.ms.lt/tv/.

Most were in Lithuanian - but one - based on the poem "If" was a mixture of the English and Lithuanian versions

I appreciated this video for many reasons. I've know Andrius for quite a few years now, and been privileged to share in some of his struggles, hopes, successes and failures. I admire many things about Andrius, not least his courage in doing the things he does, and his amazing ability to engage with people from many backgrounds, many countries, and many cultures - and then bring us together in wonderful, close, collaborations and friendships, where we learn so much from each other. 

If you don't know the poem, then hear it from Andrius at the start. If you only have a minute - then for a flavour of the video (and the way Andrius brings different people together to collaborate) fast forward to the minute between 5mins 50 secs and 6 minutes 50 secs ;

• Video Rudyardo Kiplingo eilėraštis "Jeigu"
  

Our chat was the first one we've had since Andrius had to declare himself bankrupt after spending over a decade investing himself totally in an amazing venture "Minciu Sodas" - the Orchard of Thoughts - a reality that fits part of the poem. Minciu Sodas  brought countless wonderful but unquantifiable benefits to those of us who were lucky enough to have been involved.

Thank you Andrius.

Thanks too to David Ellison-Bey for taking part. I've known your name for many years through Andrius - so it was a pleasure to finally see your face (and enjoy your accent).