O Captain, My Captain

 

Robin Williams

1951-2014 

I don't usually get upset when someone famous die, I mean I don't know them personally so I feel like I shouldn't be. But some people, some people they make the world a brighter place for ever being in it. So whilst that means the world is a bit better than it would have been for them ever being there at all, it also means its a bit greyer for them having left.

A good person dies.
There should be an impact on the world
Somebody should notice
Somebody should be upset

That was a quote Cameron (on the TV series House) once said and it resonated with me for some reason, so much that I wrote it down at the time (years ago now) in a book I keep with quotes and when I heard about Robin it made me think of those lines again.

Its not just that I found him hilarious but there was something about him, something about the sincerity in which he made the importance of living shine thru, which sort of feels ironic now seeing he lost that I the end, and it makes me incredibly sad to think that none of us that he had helped were able to help him get that back they way he did for us.

And whilst I loved him in for his comedy my absolute favourite was actually Dead Poets Society which I watched as a teenager and for some reason it made a difference to me. Its odd because I do still find it sad but whilst it was sad it had so much hope in it and so much strength that it outweighed in part the sadness.
Now I am aware that Robin didn't write it and that I should be directing some of that toward the writer as well as the director and I truly do (thank you so much Tom Schulman & Peter Weir), but some people are the roles they play and he made John Keating. He made me want to find my verse and to know I wasn't wrong when refusing to conform.

When I found out on Tuesday I watched that movie again, and as usual I cried but this time not just for the death of Neil but for the death of Robin Williams, for him felling the same despair as Neil did and his own strength not saving him, for us not saving him.

But in the end how he died doesn't take away from what he did, and it never should do. It doesn't take away from the amazing people he portrayed or his amazing personality. His ability to improvise on the spot and in a speed that's incredible (his brain must have been working overtime all the time) and mostly his ability to make people all over the world laugh and see the beauty in life.

So Mr Williams, you will be oh so sorely missed, but what a legacy you left behind!