Robin Williams – Happy Thoughts

Robin Williams made me laugh. It’s really as simple as that.

Which is why the news of his passing seems like so much of a punch in the gut.

In Hook, it took happy thoughts for Robin’s Peter Pan to remember why he’d come back to Neverland in the first place. So even though it’s hard to look back on such a vast career and pick out the lessons that mean the most, I think it’s best we focus on the happy thoughts that Robin Williams gave us:

• Sometimes it’s best to keep the dance inside: While instructing a young performer on-stage in 1996’s The Birdcage, Williams reminds him “You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!… but you keep it all inside,” proving once and for all that improv skills or not, sometimes less is more.
• Be yourself…and if that doesn’t work, be someone else: It’s probably fair to say that 98% of the Jack Nicholson impersonations after 1992’s Aladdin were a result of Robin’s tilt-a-whirl of celebrity goofs in the Disney classic. At some point in his career, Williams basically impersonated almost everyone of fame proving once and for all that if you can’t beat them, be them.
• Carpe Diem: Since the day that Williams’ John Keating from Dead Poets Society declared that ” I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP OVER THE ROOFTOPS OF THE WORLD” it’s been clear that days are meant to be seized. In one of his most iconic roles, Williams taught class after class of attentive moviegoers that life was meant to be seized, experiences meant to be grabbed.
• “If there’s love, those are the ties that bind”: While Williams’ Daniel Hillard struggled with life after the break-up of his marriage in Mrs. Doubtfire, Euphegenia was always there to bring us back to center. In the closing moments of the movie, with his ex-wife coming home to a quiet house, Williams reminds us that no matter what, if there’s love then there is a family. Love is the one thing that transcends all else, even if it doesn’t always seem to prevail.

There aren’t always happy endings in life but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t always happiness. If only Robin Williams had known.

If he only knew; that before DVRs, we sat down together once a week to watch as the loveable alien from the planet Ork flew his egg-shaped spaceship over to Boulder, Colorado in Mork & Mindy.  Who else could make rainbow suspenders fashionable and turn the phrase “nanu nanu” into an actual greeting we all understand?

If he only knew; that as he crossed over into films, we cheered his first Academy Award® nominations for Good Morning Vietnam (which words will forever be heard in our heads in very loud volume and into a radio microphone), Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King.  That we applauded his first win as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting (“Son of a bitch… he stole my line.”)

If he only knew; that one of the best parts of watching Aladdin is listening to our kids giggle at the Genie’s every line and laughing right along with them. (“Oy! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck.”)  That we had so much fun playing the magical board game Jumanji, flew right along with him as he became grown up Peter Pan in Hook, (“I believe in fairies”) and wished we all grew up with the best nanny in town Mrs. Doubtfire.

If he only knew; that his charitable work with Comic Relief, raising money for the homeless, his contributions to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and donated proceeds from his successful comedy albums to aid the Red Cross no doubt helped thousands of people.

If he only knew; that right now, people are gathering outside the house in San Francisco, where Mrs. Doubtfire was set, mourning the fact that he’s no longer here.

If he only knew; that the one and only good thing that could ever come out of losing him is that he may help other suffering people who may feel they have nowhere else to turn, to hopefully, just hopefully, choose a different path.

At the end of the day, I hope I come home tomorrow to a TV with Euphegenia reminding me that everything will be ok…but I know that she won’t be. But it’s better to focus on the happier things such as fairy dust, ripped poetry books and teeny tiny living spaces. We’ll miss you, Robin. Thanks for all the happy thoughts.

If you need help, reach out… National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255