Pursuit of Achievement
@KeithHayon
“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.” — Albert EinsteinIn June of 2008 I left the United States for the first time to meet my father. The venture to Jerusalem was a true milestone. The circumstances that are archived are interesting to say the least. It turns out on opposite ends of the world 2 unrelated events were occurring simultaneously as they were documented the entire world apart.
To this day as the 6 year mark approaches and the series of events still play fresh in my mind. The repercussions have permanently changed the course of my life. All the footage combined with the creativity and potential are poised to make for a phenomenal piece of art. However when the past infuses with the plan for the near future. That is when undeniable proof of a powerful significance will begin to show. Everything is in place for the final steps to be taken as I begin to reveal the great undertaking of my life.
More important than who
is when and whyI’m a creative person. I’m really enticed by film-making but music is my forte. As a musician I understand the importance of the relationship these two share with each other. Which is why I’ve been working on the idea to create a documentary film with the music developed specifically for it. It’s a powerful way to make a life changing event happen. The implications here are promising. But rich in content is an entirely different shade than rich in capital.
I’m not a conventional character. I don’t have access to what I need and in fact, I just found out I’ve pronounced my own name wrong my whole life. There is no great reason to believe me outside of intuition and my testimony that these messages are true .
On April 19th 2008 a plan was made to try to use art as a catalyst to change things in life. I wanted to tell a story and had only the most basic equipment available to me. A low range lap top computer and a camcorder. I had strong feelings that a powerful influence would be made given the chance to prove myself. I was already thinking about stories to tell and how to realistically make something great within the window of time left before the deadline of the contest I had been interested in.
This is how a biblical metaphor came to life in the most unusual circumstances. When looking through a random collection of papers, one in particular caught my eye. It was in the general size and shape of a business card. It said.
“Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt where they got lost in the desert for 40 years when the land of Israel was only 11 days away.”I thought about the meaning of the message. Is this even possible, I thought. Being lost for forty years when the trip is less than 2 weeks away. My personal interpretation on the importance of knowing what to do or being lost was already comparable to the tone of the message.
After giving it some serious thought I counted the days left before the dead line to turn in projects.
11 days leftWith that my commitment was made and I took the plunge with a degree of confidence that there is no doubt. I could accomplish something strong and it would change everything, I felt emphatically content. But what actually happened is well beyond my limits and control.
This is the first of 3 major connotations to the message. The connection of 11 days. In 11 days everything you know about life can change. Babies born, and people passing on. It just takes a single moment for a miracle or a tragedy to happen.
For me it was a positive move to show the power of art. 10 days would go by before the chance to concentrate all of my power leaving me with 1 day to shoot. From that point I went to four locations spending 6 hours filming and the last few hours left learning how to edit. In the minutes counting down to the deadline I look at the few rough versions left to consider, check my messages..
This is when I stop dead in my tracks and abandon the contest
It turns out my biological father had just found me using the internet on the other side of the world. At the time I was 25 years old. Only a few photographs reflect a glimpse of who he might have been. I knew things about him but now I’m going to actually learn who he is?
Without sharing the communications verbatim this is a general recollection of the events that followed. We send messages. And within the hour the phone rings and I know this call is not coming from my country.
Hello…
You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this dayThe messages were shell shocking. Not for their content, but in their scope. You have a very large family in Israel he tells me. We talk for a long time and decide it’s probably better to meet sooner rather than later. They’re filming a movie about me right now he says. So, we make arrangements, and I fly over to Jerusalem for the most important occurrence in my life.
To meeting my only living grand parent
And then they sit me down to show me the movie they made
And it dawns on me..
This is a film about them finding me
The implications are strong and the day is surreal
By now it’s really starting to hit me
What started with a biblical metaphor has brought me face to face with my father in Israel.
This was the second major connotationThe circumstances that were being documented in Israel is also an interesting story.
Tal Pesses, a student at the Sam Spiegel film school in Jerusalem was about to start a project with a friend and employee of the same film school. Moshe
At the last minute when the two were discussing the project. Moshe didn’t feel comfortable with the material. So, he tells Tal about his friend Avi who’s an interesting character. And this man Avi, turns out to be my father. Total accident. Should have never even happened.
As they meet Tal finds out he has a son in America That he’s been separated from.Once Tal has all this information, he’s able to go home and set things up. After looking me up they downloaded a clip of me playing the piano. This gave him the chance to prepare for the moment when he first sees my pictures as an adult. Below is the video of him finding me with the sound of me playing over it.
actual footage
I came back to the United States
With a mission to start developing a project that would allow me to return to Israel. It was by far the most significant experience of my life to date. It gripped my attention daily as I looked deeper into what happened. The exodus took on a new meaning for me. As I looked into it more I found that every year on the first full moon after the spring equinox. This story is commemorated in Jewish tradition as Passover. I see that the date is closely aligned with the time frame of how everything started and realize that as it changes every year something interesting is going on.
The project coincidentally started the day that Passover began
This was the 3rd major connection.If you have found this interesting. It does not even come close to reflecting the reality of what’s really going on. What happened is unusual but what can happen next, is powerful.
As Passover commences. I’ll be back in Israel for the first time.
There is a very intriguing puzzle to put together here.
But more importantly I have a heavy skill set and the ability to execute something amazing right now.
It’s going to take a lot of work and help.
