The Robin Williams Tribute You've Been Waiting For
A Robin Williams tribute from an off-beat professor in the Philippines who does what he does because of his great Captain.
The Robin Williams Tribute You've Been Waiting For
A little less than a week ago, I was on a plane staring aimlessly at an endless slew of movies - a formidable offering of blockbusters, classics, cult favorites, and most importantly, legendary violence.
However, I ended up selecting an obscure new film called The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, about a rage-infested man with ninety minutes left to live. As expected, it was a ninety minutes I'll never get back.
But hey, It had Robin Williams in it.
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I sat through this cruel joke of a film because I owe you, Mr. Williams. I owe you for waking me up to a sunny Vietnam and for my deep-seated desire for a fat, English nanny. I owe you, Mr. Williams, for making me want to fly and for never growing old.
But most of all, good sir, I owe you for Mr. Keating.
As a man that's always felt strangely at home with fictional characters as opposed to boring, listless adults, you gave me the teacher I never had, yet the one that was always there.
I thank you, Mr. Williams, for making him real.
I thank you for leading me towards the path of the extraordinary, a glorious routine of arising everyday with the sound of a barbaric YAWP that audaciously personifies the rousing fire in my belly.
Providentially, three days ago was the day I had my own students watch Dead Poets for the first time. I've always held the stern belief that every human must go through three crucial, life-affirming moments - their first step, their first kiss, and their first class with Mr. Keating.
After the film, I jokingly told my class that my first viewing of Dead Poets provided me with two immediate goals, the first was to teach and the second was to get fired as a teacher.
I thank you, Mr. Williams, for giving me that purpose.
I thank you for giving me a subtle glimpse into the drone-producing freak show that is our educational system, one that seeks to perpetuate a population of more boring, listless adults. An institution that I will go to war with until it replaces measurement with improvement, until it replaces "How intelligent are you" with "How ARE YOU intelligent", and most of all, until it is built on the ridiculously simple notion that "what a man can be, he must be".
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Rest in peace, O Captain.
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