We were in our cups when we wrote this, so please excuse the sloggy prose.
Paul was in his cups in Prague when he tearfully commented "there aren't many moments like these." Those present in Prague had a rare moment in which just being together was a beautiful and momentous occasion. A participant of the Prague meeting said after we learned of his death, "it doesn't seem so funny anymore." Paul was in our age group, but he knew more than many of us that life is nasty, brutish and short. So he appreciated every moment with us. He showed his appreciation in many ways - by selflessly offering his time, his attention, his love, to us. Without reservation. Without apology.
Our youth and our roles in an often impersonal world cause us to put up a wall between ourselves and others. On a certain level there is that knowledge that we all deeply care about each other, but because we think there's enough time to spend time together, we take it for granted. Paul took nothing for granted. He savored every moment with his friends and family. We don't know what it is to come tomorrow, in this world or what comes after. Paul, I think, taught us that all we can do is appreciate this moment, right now, with each other.
Among Paul's circle of friends, we are all different. Liberal. Libertarian. Democrat. Republican. Christian. Atheist. Jewish. We all have different views, opinions, and tastes. But one thing we can all agree on is that the one word that sums up Paul is "generous." He gave us all something that ensured we could never forget him. He taught many of us to give to charities, often by making it into a game, not because it was a tax deduction or because other people would think highly of us for it, but because it was genuinely the right thing to do.
We all love to travel and spend time together whenever we can. We like to make more of our connection with each other much more than a faceless digital text conversation. Wherever Paul travelled a crowd gathered. Roup brought the party.
Part of why Paul was the life of the party was because he was unapologetically himself. Deal with me as I am or not seemed to be his motto, and I think that was an effective method of weeding out the weak from the brave. That was why he was our Roupert - he was our Roupert, warts n' all, and the warts were a big part of his charm.
He was the one who made you guess what he had for lunch by the mess on the front of his shirt.
He was the one who Rouped up the bathroom.
He was the one who was the voice of reason when everyone else was buried in their own prejudices.
He was the one who appropriately had no social filter.
He was the one who was intelligent without being pretentious.
He was the one who was our moral bellwether.
He was the one that left a big hole in our lives.
He was the one who loved us so much he forgave us for even our worst human failings, and for that and so much more he was our brother.
As one of our Brunchma board friends said, thank you, teacher, and bless you, friend. Goodbye.