| | Luke Setzer, Rest in Peace
I would not be honest if I said that I never liked Luke. I did. He was hard not to like, with his winning smile and good natured sense of life. It was as I got to know him that I came to dislike him. I wrestled with that for over a year. I harbored a lot of resentment, metaphysical bitterness, about the fact that he had a career as a NASA employee, while I lasted two weeks as a contractor. I saw him as Peter Keating to my Howard Roark. What I needed to do, actually, was go out into the desert to work with the Rutans. But, that was my problem, not his. So, I tried to keep an open mind -- and and open heart -- where Luke Setzer was concerned. Whether and which side won the match is for you to decide. I came here to pay my respects to someone I found it hard to respect.
I came here today as much to visit with you all. We are united here today as friends of Luke Setzer. I might not be the only person who is here who was not, but perhaps I am.
For better and for worse, Luke never left North Carolina. Objectivism was just a different religion -- and Luke was religious about Objectivism. He knew the books; he studied the words. He admitted that he did not know everything, but he did know error when he saw it. Error, of course, is the etymological root of the word "sin" in Greek. A fundamentalist Christian might not know everything about the Bible, but knows the work of the devil when he sees it. So, too, with Luke. He was always willing to study Objectivism and learn more -- but he knew what was outside the literature, and he shunned it.
Memorizing and applying a set of rules appealed to Luke. I am sure that there is a Myer-Briggs type to describe that, the Inspector-General, perhaps. Luke lived his life according to a plan, a finely grained plan, tracked and recorded in his day planner. Luke actually advocated the day planner as a means to success. It was for him.
In balance, Luke was basically, a upbeat and affirmative guy, someone who believed in achievement, and best of all, believed in himself as an achieving person. At the same time, according the standards of the books he studied so carefully, he condemned others who failed. He was not afraid to pass moral judgment. In fact, he lived for it, as any truly believing Objectivist would. He was brutally honest about his feelings -- or lack of them -- on the passing of Nathan Hawkings. Some people found that impolite, to be polite about it. However, it was perfectly consonant with Luke qua Luke and it is to honor of that integrity that I came here today to offer this word of tribute.
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