When I heard Robin Williams died the other day, I probably responded the same way as a lot of people. Shock. Surprise. Sadness.
Hardly a day goes by anymore without catching word of some celebrity somewhere who passed away, but this one is different. It’s Robin Williams.
Who doesn’t like Robin Williams?
From all accounts, he was one of the most well-liked actors in Hollywood, just an all-around good guy. The characters he played in Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire and Good Will Hunting are some of my all-time favorites.
So I was reading a little more about Williams yesterday when I came across something he said during a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) last year. It’s applicable to this blog, so I thought I’d share.
Allow me to add to the deluge of Robin Williams tributes flooding the internet.
On Thinking
I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.
Now, don’t just walk off the edge like lemmings! Look around you!
On Living
They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? – – Carpe – – hear it? – – Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.
Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone.
There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.
On Writing
We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? “I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can’t dance to it!”
On Dreaming
“Twas always thus, and always thus will be.”
On Teaching
I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.
Mr. Anderson! Don’t think that I don’t know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole!
This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls.
On Confidence
I was the intellectual equivalent of a 98-pound weakling! I would go to the beach and people would kick copies of Byron in my face!
Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!
Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go “that’s baaaaad.” Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP OVER THE ROOFTOPS OF THE WORLD.
Running In My Head 