A few years back, I remember reading an interview with one of my most beloved singer/songwriters, Josh Ritter. He was talking about perspective, in how we see things - or more to the point, how we can choose to see things. "You can go to the mall, he said, and you can think about how much the mall sucks. Or you can be at the mall and notice a girl getting her ears pierced for the first time and think about what that means for her..."
So much of this life is in how we see things, isn't it?
A few weeks ago, I watched the movie About Time. Much more than the romantic comedy the previews bill it to be, it is charming and lovely and I would recommend it to just about everyone. The premise is that the main character can travel through time, return to various points in his life that he's already lived. I don't think I'm giving away any major plot points though by telling you that by the end of the movie he realizes that it's not about the time travel. That instead, we should all (including those of us who can't travel back through time) simply try and live every day, to enjoy all of its little ups and downs and ins and outs - savoring that hot cup of coffee in the morning, or noticing that the sun poured into the bedroom just perfectly so, or that we caught a stranger's eye momentarily and shared a quick smile. These are gifts. Tiny, little, beautiful gifts that don't ever seen to matter until they are no longer there. Then, suddenly, they are all that ever mattered. Noticing the beauty that truly is all around us - around each of us living our own extraordinary, ordinary life, is the thing.
The end all. The be all.
The stuff that matters.
I keep thinking about Robin Williams. While I could write about the movies of his that I loved best, of which ones are so very close to my heart, and of the terrible, utterly sad news that we have lost this talent, there are countless others who have already done that better than me. There are recaps and best of's and all sorts of notes about the artist and comedian that we lost all over all of our media outlets.
My heart breaks over and over when I think how dark the days, the hours must have been for him at the very end. What a world of pain and suffering he surely found himself in, of which he saw but one final way out. What I have thought about since Monday night when I heard the news and what I return to over and over in my mind, particularly as I read the countless tributes, commentaries, and postings this week; is how much we all need one another in this life. I can't help but wonder, as I hear person after person recount how much they loved him and how much Mr. Williams will be missed - people who didn't even know him personally - if Robin knew, really and truly knew, how much he was adored and loved and cherished. This is certainly not to imply that he wasn't fighting larger demons; that his pain would have lessened or his suicide been prevented. But what I think - what I hope - we can all remember is that we
are all meaningful to others in ways that we will likely never know.
You are always worth more than you are aware.
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3 comments:
Well said, Kelli, as always. One cannot understand the deep dark places of the mind where no one and nothing seems to penetrate. What I hear no one saying is when one is depressed, most of the time others avoid us, don't want to hear about it, prefer to be around more upbeat people. You're labeled a "downer". Let's remember to be compassionate & embrace those who are in the dark place & pull them close. Don't leave them adrift, isolated & alone when perhaps you can shed some much needed light. Some depressions are temporary while others even the most astute professionals & powerful medications cannot cure. But as human beings, let's remember that even WE can go to the dark place someday & need a helping uplifting hand into a brighter place. Life can be tough & cruel for all of us at times. It's a journey of twists & turns, unexpected ups and downs that can at times bring us unimaginable joy but on other occasions can shake us to our core. I've known several people who committed suicide & I often wonder "if only"....
Thank you for posting this, especially that Dead Poet's Society clip. I've been avoiding watching anything, really, because I was afraid of it making me too sad, but it was good to watch and remember how much I love that movie, among many of his others. I'm so glad that I've watched that movie enough times to have it basically committed to memory, and that it has a meaning for me beyond just another Robin Williams movie. But the thing is, most of his movies are like that--part of larger memories, places in time and periods of my life.
Anyway, I've always gotten chills from DPS in particular--"That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." He contributed so many verses for us, though we never knew him personally. I only hope that he will be remembered for those verses, and not his depression or the way he died.
Oh, Dead Poets Society. I want to re-watch it, but maybe not just yet. I love that all the tributes, articles, tweets, interviews, fb posts, etc. are consistently about what a good and generous human he was. Especially in his industry, that's rare for everyone to have the same experience with someone.
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