by Paul Haber, originally posted on June 26
I am deeply saddened to learn of Scott’s passing. I am saddened by the deep pain he was feeling; something just seems so unfair about that much pain for such a gentle, giving soul, someone who had committed so much of his life to relieving the unnecessary suffering of others. I am grateful that he now has relief from that pain and I wish him much love and solidarity in whatever is next.
I suspect I share many similarities with others in my experience with and feelings for Scott. I have never, in my entire life, met anybody more committed to compassionate service to others. There have always been people like Scott on the planet, and they have always been rare. He walked the talk in a way that inspired those who knew him. We could not match Scott but he helped make us better people. I smile when I remember how he never tired of telling me to honor my own experience and not blow it off by calling it first world problems. He always took suffering seriously, his own as well as that of others, and met it with an incredible compassion.
Scott was brave. Not only was he brave in how he helped other people out in the desert crossing the US-Mexican mean borderlands. But, well before that, in Colombia, and before that in El Salvador. It is really extraordinary, what he did consistently since as he might have put it, had his “eyes opened” the 1980s. Scott was brave also in how he was willing to share his feelings. I saw him angry in the face of injustice, I saw him cry when he felt sad. I saw him smile when he was happy. Those last photos he posted on Facebook were classic Scott: happy in one, gloomier and in more pain than I had ever seen him in the other. Scott did not know how to bullshit.
Scott was one of the finest human beings and best friends I have ever known. He is missed, he will be missed, and he will be remembered.
What a wonderful tribute! Thank you for your kind, insightful comments. I cannot tell you how much it means to me.