Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Oh Captain, Our Captain

People have asked me before to choose a decade to live in. You know- would you want to be a hippie? A flapper? A Downton Abbey tea snob?

As an out gay man with a motor mouth of opinions, I doubt I would have lasted long in any of those decades. Nope. For some silly, messed up reason, I have no desire being alive in any other time period but now.

The world is certainly a messed up place. The Middle East is again erupted into war. People are fucking kicking innocent animals off the Grand Canyon. And Robin Williams is no longer with us. But I wouldn't trade being alive today for anything.

I'm grateful that we live in a time where we don't solely have to rely on our memories to really treasure and cherish the contributions the people we have lost have given to the world. We are still able to watch videos of them and hear recordings of the moments that really made their lives extraordinary.

Last night I stayed at home and cried off and on during the night. I watched videos from movies like Aladdin, What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams, Jumangi, Good Will Hunting, Mrs. Doubtfire, and of course Dead Poets Society. I guess when you grow up with someone your whole life and look at them as inspiration and enlightenment, it is truly hard to let them go. I was just a kid before the Happy Days days, but we did have Nick at Night. The second I saw Mork from Ork in Mork and Mindy I thought he was weird, unique, determined, and kind-- I knew I had found a TV role model to look up to.



But his role as Professor Keating is what does me in everytime. In comparison to the rest of the cast, it's actually a smaller role in the film, but his antecdotes and poetry dropping will always be inspiration to me. Dead Poets Society is and will always be one of my top 5 favourite movies. The message behind it are of living, life, and love. I wish Robin Williams had known more of that himself.



My favourite lines from the film:

"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. 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."

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

"There's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for."


"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."

"Why do I stand up here? Anybody? I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way."


"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 (imitating a goat) “that’s baaaaad”. Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference."

“Laughing, crying, tumbling, mumbling, Gotta do more, gotta be more. Chaos screaming, chaos dreaming, Gotta be more, gotta BE MORE!"

"Oh Captain, My captain!"

"Only in their dreams can men be truly free. It was always thus and always thus will be."

***IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS DEPRESSED OR NEED HELP, please reach out to friends, family, or call the national suicide prevention hotline:


You. Are. Loved.


RIP, my captain. #RobinWilliams