“Within all of us there is a voice within us that questions whether or not we are doing the right thing with our lives, and we have to listen to that voice, because if we ignore it we do so at our own peril.”

This interview lifted and inspired me on many levels.  Scott Neeson was a man society would say had everything, and then he walked away from it all, to love and serve these people forsaken by society.

When Hollywood marketing executive Scott Neeson embarked on a sabbatical between jobs in 2003, he couldn’t have imagined how it would change his life. In Phnom Penh, Scott saw hundreds of children and their families living and working on the Steung Meanchey garbage dump, one of the most toxic environments imaginable. It was a moment that changed his life.

Scott had a 26-year-career in the film business, including tenure as president of 20th Century Fox International. Scott thought he had it all – a powerful role in the film industry, celebrity friends, a big house, fancy cars and a boat.

But in 2003, Scott’s view on life changed completely when he found himself looking out across the Steung Meanchey garbage dump at hundreds of children scavenging through garbage.

Soon after, Scott made the decision to resign from his job, sell all of his possessions and focus his energy and passion into Cambodian Children’s Fund. Twelve years later and Scott’s journey still captivates, inspires and bewilders people from all over the world.

“The moment I stepped there it was the single most impactful moment in my life. I was standing there facing into the abyss.”

Scott’s conversation with the Dalai Lama.

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (Click for more Joseph Campbell)