Wednesday, August 13, 2014

a Great Teacher is Gone

Robin Williams … Rest in the blessed … you will be missed.

It has eluded me all of these years how much of my life had been wrapped eternally up with Robin Williams. When I was young of course there was Mork and Mindy, though I had seen him also on Carol Burnett. Mork and Mindy pretty much dictated that no matter how crappy your week your were going to get a laugh to lighten the burden that is being a kid.

It did not occur to me until yesterday that even though I'd never met him how very much I depended on him, how very much he taught. He was there for me and just as my child grew up on Aladdin (which she watched so much I STILL have most of it memorized) but my grandkids will grow up with Happy Feet and more than likely repeats of his Sesame Street appearances that will never stop giving audiences that feel good quality that he was able to spread to all so easily.

The thing is not that the first poster in my room was not Ozzy but Robin Williams. While that is true I never saw him as a “star.” To me he earned that place on my wall from a movie, “Moscow on the Hudson.” To me he was a teacher.

You see as kids we were living through the Cold War and we were taught always that all Russians were commies, devils and basically soulless enemies that were waiting to blow up America only because they needed just a few more nukes. Then out came this movie … about a Russian and I wondered how he could play such a villain.

To my surprise when I walked out of that theater, I had an all new world-view. It was basically about this Russian defector. Only problem with my thought process was … the character was human. Not a devil, not shocking or astounding or infamous. He was... just a human being. He loved his family. He valued freedom. He had wants, needs, urges. He was real. It entirely changed my outlook on people, even though that thought was a hard pill to swallow.

Throughout the years, Robin Williams taught us many things. He taught us how to love beyond life in What Dreams May Come. He taught us not only how to cry but how to cry for one another. Not only how to laugh, but how to laugh at ourselves.

As Shakespeare wrote, What dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause. There is so much less laughter in this world now. I think it is only right that we smell a flower today, count our blessings and tell those loved ones how very much they mean. Who knows how very much they might need to hear it? For while those dreams that come may remain a mystery, the blessings and teachers that we have on this earthly realm are not … and as such must be savored.

Rest well my teacher,
Angel


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