Remembering Barbara Brenner\u2019s Remarkable Life<\/p>\n
The mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, \u201cIf the only prayer you ever said was \u2018thank you,\u2019 that would be enough.<\/p>\n
My name is Heather Sawitsky. I have known Barbara Brenner since college, and I am here to give thanks for the wonderful force of nature that was Barbara Brenner.\u00a0 I too became an attorney, with a focus on public health issues, and it has been my great pleasure to have had ongoing and spirited dialogues with Barb on many health issues important to both of us.<\/p>\n
Barbara leaves a gaping hole, individually and communally.\u00a0 I have thought about how we will try to fill this empty space and commemorate her life.\u00a0 Barbara was, among other things, a teacher.\u00a0 Her blog sets out a road map as to how she tried, and I believe succeeded, in living a life of purpose and meaning.\u00a0 In her farewell blog post, she spoke of the many unique people she had the honor of knowing, and how she thought that they, we, could succeed at anything we set our hearts and minds to do.\u00a0 While none of us can or will replace her, we can honor her by proving her right, once more, by rededicating ourselves to the things we most wish to achieve.<\/p>\n
People who met Barbara in more recent years may be daunted by her accomplishments, and intentionally or unconsciously consider themselves without the same potential that Barbara had.\u00a0 Since I have known her for so long, I thought I should mention that Barbara did not start out as a polished advocate.\u00a0 Her passion often overruled her intellect.\u00a0 She did not pick her battles.\u00a0 She could be obnoxious.\u00a0 Her fashion tastes were borderline.<\/p>\n
Let me give you a baseline.\u00a0 When I met Barbara:<\/p>\n
She had a boyfriend in Baltimore.<\/p>\n
She wanted to be a diplomat.<\/p>\n
Her favorite shoes were a pair of platform saddle shoes that were atrocious even by 1972 standards.<\/p>\n
After Smith, she went to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.\u00a0 There two very lucky things happened to her.\u00a0 Almost immediately, the Yom Kippur War broke out, driving home to Barbara (and probably everyone else at Princeton) that Barbara was no diplomat, and thus short-circuiting that misguided career.<\/p>\n
And while she was at Princeton, she met Susie, whose intellect matched Barbara\u2019s, and whose steadiness anchored Barbara and gave her the freedom and space to grow, to become first a lawyer, then an advocate, then an advocate who knew as much science as the researchers, and then an advocate who became a master of social media.\u00a0 \u00a0A person who changed the conversation, and made a difference.<\/p>\n
I would like to end with a poem by Merritt Malloy called Epitaph.<\/i><\/p>\n
When I die,
\nGive what\u2019s left of me away
\nTo children,
\nAnd old men who wait to die.
\nAnd if you need to cry,
\nCry for your brother
\nWalking the street beside you.
\nAnd when you need me,
\nPut your arms
\nAround anyone
\nAnd give them
\nWhat you need to give to me.<\/p>\n
I want to leave you something,
\nSomething better
\nThan words
\nOr sounds.<\/p>\n
Look for me
\nIn the people I have known
\nOr loved,
\nAnd if you cannot give me away,
\nAt least let me live on your eyes
\nAnd not on your mind.<\/p>\n
You can love me most
\nBy letting
\nHands touch hands,
\nBy letting
\nBodies touch bodies,
\nAnd by letting go
\nOf children
\nThat need to be free.<\/p>\n
Love does not die,
\nPeople do.
\nSo, when all that is left of me
\nIs love,
\nGive me away.<\/p>\n