-----Original Message-----
From: Courtney Spillane [mailto:cspillane@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 11:54 AM
To: Openletter@mail.kinkele.net
Subject: My thoughts of Scott
 

Scott

How much can I say about this individual who has affected so many lives including me?  A good man above all else, but he even exceeded beyond goodness, he was a great man..  I look at Scott’s passing in many different angles.  An opportunity for me to see what God’s words mean to me.  I see my friend violently taken from me, from his family, from his friends, and his physical being.  My anger, my disgust, and my utter repulsion at the justice system in this country only entrenches the hurt I have buried to the core.  Scott, was my friend and a great man.  He was not only somebody who volunteered to give his life to his country, had brain power that excelled in engineering and math, beauty that made women swoon over him, and brawn that can test the strength of every man, Scott had life and had it abundantly.  He reminded us to live each moment to the fullest, take the time now to tell family and friends he loved them, take life by the horns and just go, go, go as life is short enough as it is.  God had no intention for Scott to die such a violent, cowardly way. Shot in the back by men with no regard for life, cowards who could only win by ambush from behind, men who ceased to be human when they took a life previously and continued, by this country inability to serve justice, to kill again. But when choice came down that night, Scott gave his life so the woman, a single mother to children, could live.  He perished so someone else could have life and have life abundantly.  He sacrificed his life, so full, so rich, and so plentiful so a mother, a stranger with children of her own would live. In turn, he has become the guardian angel of those children.  Scott has lived out the same prophecy we all will someday, but in a much more profound and deep sense that we could ever hope for.  He gave his life so others could live.  Scott was the strongest of all of us.  All of us, every day have the opportunity to exist or live.  Scott chose life over existence every moment of every day.  He was chosen to perform the strongest, most self -sacrificing act that many of us would shrink from..AND THAT IS HOW God knew, not when or how, that Scott, the strongest, the person among my friends who taught us how to live, also showed us how to die.  Before his birth, he knew when he came down and blessed us with his presence, his time was limited.  Somehow he knew he would be taken from a life too short and lived in the manner that breathed life into the people he surrounded himself with.  He knew what life had to offer because he pushed the boundaries of living into realms of rock climbing, bungee jumping, sailing, ice climbing, and flying.  His experience with death was always close, but never with violence.  He was a great man.  He loved his family and was to ready for every single one of us by choosing to be a man who fought for freedom and his country.  He was and continues to be a source of inspiration for every one of us , giving us lessons on how to expand the horizons of existence so we can go beyond our daily routine and feel the rush of adrenaline.  God’s natural drug adrenaline, allows us to go further than we thought we could go, we can push ourselves faster, harder, and longer.  And Scott, son, brother, friend, lieutenant, and human, I lay thee to rest in peace because you have provided enough moments where I can discover peace, laughter, and fun.  You have given me inspiration to push myself so each day, I make my life good to the very end.  You are loved and missed.