After this prolonged “pause”, after the last episode that sent him back to hospital, Daniel has
moved on to immaterial spaces, leaving us with tremendous gratitude.
Because it is precisely in the face of the possibility of the imminent passage that one turns one's
gaze to try to understand the trajectory of the friendship with the person who is dying, what his life
and his coherence were like, the best moments we lived together, the successive encounters, in
order to retain those luminous moments in which we experienced an extraordinary openness.
Daniel was present at every milestone of our long process, as a humanist from a very young age, a
tireless activist and builder of structures in different countries and continents, radiating around him
as an astute organiser and point of reference for many people, he put his best into encouraging
others.
But what was – in Daniel – “his best”?
If he had many virtues, it seems to me that like no other Daniel possessed a very acute sense of
humour, an ability to present in words, images and gestures, the synthesis of what he observed
that could be holding us back, inhibiting or complicating us, thus highlighting our resistances and
accompanying with complicit laughter the understanding of his illusory trap. After the joint laughter,
the way was clear for one to continue moving forward.
This is what he did with me many times, managing to remove obstacles that seemed
insurmountable to me, with no other argument than a good laugh. Because his humour lay
precisely in a different point of view, in taking a perspective that no one shared, an unprejudiced
look thanks to his tremendous freedom. And then all my supposed resistance vanished before the
wink of his complicity that unlocked the present, unfolding open possibilities of an enormous future.
Because – it must be said – none of his ideas were common or ordinary, there was always
something disproportionate in his proposals, bolder, much more daring than anyone could ever
propose or even imagine. His visions were colourful, and he never went in for half-measures. He
knew that everything depends on the profundity of one's conviction to carry out major odysseys,
and that is where he channelled his own conduct and that of those who, like me, trusted in his
proposals.
The crazy things I may have undertaken in my life, the great things I tried, the things that involved
working on an international scale, that seemed impossible and unachievable, behind many of
those great attempts was some of the laughter shared with Daniel.
He was a kind of magician, transforming the everyday routine into the superlative and marvellous.
A master of the transmutation of images, allegories of living.
He transforms himself now and becomes immaterial to us, while I am left with the memory of the
sound of his laughter and the memory of his eyes shining with enthusiasm. As I feel my heart swell
with so much gratitude.
