How happy I am to see you, my friend. It is an honour to see you today. Yes, you do not remember me, but I remember you well. How could I forget a gentleman like you? Memories unfold like a film before my eyes, as though I were reliving those beautiful moments today. We met eight years ago, and how often your image has returned to my mind, reminding me of you day after day so I would not forget you or your noble features.
What makes our meeting special, my friend, is how loyalty has faded in our times. It has become rare, and that gives it an incomparable beauty. Do you remember the first day we met, when my father gave me the honour of knowing you and told you how fluently I spoke despite my young age? I grew up that way with my family, and in the end I did not bear my family name undeservedly.
It truly is a small world, bringing us together again. What a wonderful occasion on such a day—a blessed day indeed, a Friday blessed by the remembrance of God and made complete by meeting one of the finest people of our time. My friend? You are truly a teacher to me. You gave me the honour of your friendship and company so I could learn from you things a pupil sometimes cannot learn from a teacher. You are an old family friend and a mentor to me. You were, and still are, a role model in a particular field.
Creativity and innovation are the talk of today. I recognised them in you, my teacher, when I was young. I set out confidently towards my goal, holding before me a vision of success: success in whatever form, whether as an engineer or a doctor, a scientist or a scholar. Humanity needs everyone if we are to help it advance. Indeed, my teacher, you discovered one side of me. Until today I had not realised it was only one of the sides your remarkable thinking and sound judgment had recognised.
My teacher, I am so happy to meet you again. The One who brought us together on this blessed day holds the thread of our longstanding bond: “Hold firmly together to the rope of God and do not become divided.” My teacher, will you teach me more? I have sworn to remain a student throughout my life. I do not wish to give up the wings on which I so often fly.