Robin Williams

Below is a quote from Dead Poets Society, less famous than the dramatic ‘Oh Captain, my Captain!’, but in that scene, Mr Keating (Robin Williams) calls all boys together around him, in a very secretive manner, as if to explain one of the big secrets of life. Since this is a literature lesson, it is actually about why we read and write poetry, ... which is not far away from the big secrets of life. :)

 Well, in a way, he gives one answer which I always found very beautiful and intriguing.

“But poetry, beauty, romance, love;

These are what we stay alive for  [...]“

Here, Mr Keating quotes the (for him) inevitable Walt Whitman 

“[...]The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

The scene ends with Mr Keating looking at Todd, asking

“What will your verse be?”

This is where your own dreams should fit in, whether it is having a child and family, helping others or creating something new, leave a positive mark, write your own verse. I love the positive message of it, because it is inspiring and invites us to make something positive out of our lives. I am not sure if I had believed it if someone else had played Mr Keating, but Robin Williams was believable as a teacher. 

Thank you, Robin Williams, for being Mr Keating in Dead Poets Society. 

You will be missed by so many who thought, laughed and cried because you made them to.