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Sep 2026
When Birhanu was speaking to me over the phone, someone interrupted our conversation. I could hear the other person speaking with him, but I could not understand what they were saying because they were speaking English.Even though I could not understand their conversation, I was listening to their voices. I knew Birhanu was talking about his work and about art, and I could hear that they were having an important conversation.
While I was listening, my thoughts were somewhere else. I was thinking about my son and how far he had come. I was grateful that he was able to study and continue doing what he loves. I was thinking about his journey and about the dream he has been pursuing through his art.
I was also thinking about St. Michael and the things he has done in our lives. I am a spiritual person, and in that moment I was giving thanks and feeling grateful for the protection and guidance I believe we have received.
After the other person left, I asked my son, “Who’s that?” He told me that his name was Mark and that he was a software engineer as well as an artist who is studying his masters with him. Birhanu tried to explain what they had been discussing, he told me about what Mark was doing for his masters and couldn't understand to all the things he mentioned, such as the data centers, how technological devices have become more complicated was gathering our information and using it against us somehow.
A few days later, Birhanu sent me a photograph of something Mark had made. I saw the yellow cables arranged across the wall with writing over them. Birhanu explained that Mark had been inspired by the conversation I was having with my son before he interrupted the conversation.
I was surprised and amazed. For me, it had been an ordinary moment. I was simply listening to my son speaking from his studio. I did not know that the conversation could become an artwork.
It also made me think about the technology we use every day. The phone in my son’s hand allowed my voice to enter the studio even though I was somewhere else. I could hear their voices, and my voice could be heard by them.
I realised that the objects we use every day can have a great power. We may think of a phone or a cable as something ordinary, but they can carry our voices, our thoughts and our feelings across distance. Something we cannot see can travel through them and reach another person.
What amazed me most was that I did not understand the conversation, yet the moment still became meaningful to me, to Birhanu, and then to Mark in completely different ways.
I was grateful to see that my son’s work and his conversations with other artists were opening new ways of thinking for him. I was happy that he was doing what he loves and continuing to pursue his dream.
Perhaps we were all connected by that conversation in different ways: my voice travelling through the phone, Mark receiving an idea from the conversation, and Birhanu later recognising the connection between us. It made me realise how much can pass between people through something as simple as a voice.