A Tribute to Scott Adams
—1957-2026
We lost Scott Adams, and his fertile mind.
We mourn his passing, but he left behind
a truth and wisdom-filled satiric view
of what life’s like inside the corporate zoo.
He knew exactly what it meant to be
a worker stifled by bureaucracy.
His comic strip showed Dilbert at his desk,
confronting what was truly Kafka-esque.
He showed that people, though they see right through
the asininity their bosses spew,
commit themselves to somehow soldier on,
despite this Sisyphean phenomenon.
When given mindless desk work and made bored,
recalling Dilbert is its own reward.
Warren Bonham is a private equity investor who lives in Southlake, Texas.
Neat tribute, Warren. So many good phrases.
Thanks! I’ve spent time in cubicle farms in the past, so I have always been a fan. He seemed tribute worthy.
I saw somewhere that he had passed, but thought it was another fake news item. I’m sure Scott Adams would have seen the funny side of that.
A fine tribute, Warren.
Thank you so much. He seemed to maintain his sense of humor until the end so I’m 100% sure you’re right.
Warren, a fine tribute written at breakneck speed… love the couplets and poetic devices throughout.
Scott Adams was a fine man. He made up his mind early to become useful, and that is what he did. He made millions of friends through Dilbert, his podcasts and his books by helping them to make their way through this fallen world.
Scott was a riddle to me. He did not believe in an afterlife, but he did accept Jesus as his personal saviour before he died. Was it only to please his followers since so many had suggested it. I know he had a sense of the mysterious/spiritual… was that what made him accept? He said that it made sense… Pascal’s Wager?
Whatever it was… I heard someone say, “If such a wise, loving man doesn’t go to Heaven… then there is no heaven.”
Scott was so much better than many who believe they’ve already earned their mansion.
I did read about his conversion. His logic seemed to mirror Pascal’s Wager. I’m not smart or holy enough to know if that counts, but if I had a vote, he’d make it in.
Thank you for this lovely tribute to a fine man, Warren. Mike is a fan of Scott Adams, so I’ve listened to his podcasts alongside him for the last few years. These last few weeks this amazing man has shown me how to stare death in the face (with all the mental and physical pain that comes with that) and continue to reach out to others with strength, honesty, a smile, and a dignity I hope I have the guts to muster when I catch a glimpse of the grim reaper. RIP Scott Adams.
I grew up with Dilbert and Far Side as standard fare (if you haven’t been subjected to Far Side yet, I’d rate it slightly ahead of Dilbert). I agree with your sentiment. No one knows how they would respond to grim news like that, but it would be hard to handle it better than he did.
Warren, this is a beautiful sonnet of remembrance and respect. It also has that sense of quiet dignity and personal good will that were marks of this man.
He definitely seemed liked a genuinely good person (although People magazine tried to paint him otherwise in their obituary). His passing deserved to be marked.
I agree with all that this is a nice tribute; I
think he would have appreciated it. He did
give an unusual conversion statement but we
don’t know his final thoughts and he certainly
had a huge advantage in his love of neighbor.
I wasn’t sure how to view his conversion statement. I’m glad I’m not the one handing out grades at the end of each life.
As a once faithful reader of Scott’s Dilbert strip, thank you for this tribute poem.
I tried looking up how many strips he published over the 34 years that he produced them. No definitive answer came up, but it had to be more than 10,000 given that this was a daily strip. I thought I was a fan, but there’s no way I even read half of them. I’m guessing you did better than I did. I have some catching up to do.
Warren, you give me something to learn. Dilbert is not on my horizon, but from what you have to say, I admire Adams for recognizing and responding creatively to the human values of time and work for each individual. We all need to live where our moments and our efforts are considered precious, as they are unique and unrepeatable. Your classical description of the opposite situation as “Sisyphean” rings true.
There are 5 core characters in the comic strip. Each one represents types of people that are probably recognizable to all of us as we carry out our Sisyphean tasks. The anti-hero is the unnamed Pointy-Haired Boss whose incompetence is obvious to everyone except for him. The other characters respond in different ways with Dilbert being a sort of Sisyphean hero. It was always fun to see what new absurdity would arise, and how each character would deal with it.
Warren
Thank you for these well-drafted heroic couplets. Scott, with his uber-deft mind, would applaud your skill! In the last few years, on my daily walks, I tuned into many of his podcasts. I enjoyed his razor-sharp intellect and his forthright honesty. He taught his listeners an excellent method ( a debit/credit analysis, as it were) for approaching personal problems. With calm detachment, accompanied by that ironic chuckle, he exposed the double-speak and hypocrisy of the mainstream media and of political rhetoric.
I am saddened that he had to suffer from the ravages of cancer, and I admire his courage and his refusal to “be a victim.”
Most sincerely
Mary Jane