{"id":1078,"date":"2014-08-15T22:41:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T12:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2022-08-13T09:44:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T23:44:08","slug":"requiescat-in-pace-robin-williams-1951-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/?p=1078","title":{"rendered":"REQUIESCAT IN PACE: ROBIN WILLIAMS (1951-2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Robin,<\/p>\n

Goodbyes are never easy.<\/p>\n

In the face of every departure, words, images and memories are all we have. But do they ever suffice to account for what we have lost? A loss as inexplicable, immeasurable and devastating as yours.<\/p>\n

During the course of an extraordinary career, you gifted the world hours of laughter, joy, surprise and wonder – infused, here and there, with moments of sheer consternation and fear.<\/p>\n

The corporate lawyer who returned to Neverland in Hook<\/em>. The delightfully manic genie in Aladdin<\/em>. The irrepressible Mrs. Doubtfire<\/em>. The squeamish Russian doctor in Nine Months<\/em>. The homeless, Holy Grail hunter in The Fisher King<\/em>. The bereaving therapist in Good Will Hunting<\/em>. The obsessed and troubled technician in One Hour Photo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With each triumphant performance, your versatility, courage, wit and sensitivity sparkled and shone, melting the celluloid with its brilliant, scintillating intensity.<\/p>\n

But I will always remember you from Dead Poets Society<\/em>. Perhaps it is too much to ask of the cinema that it transform the world for the better. And yet, as the unorthodox English teacher, John Keating, you transformed my thinking with your rousing soliloquy on our expiring planet’s greatest hope:<\/p>\n

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!…of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless…of cities filled with the foolish; 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. That the powerful play “goes on” and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?<\/p>\n

Inspiration, of potentially life-changing proportions. You held on for as long as you could, Robin, your spritely effervescence and fizzy energy lamentably succumbing to the spectres that haunt comedy: pain and tragedy. In the wake of your departure, the wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche comes to mind: ‘Perhaps I know best why man is the only animal that laughs: he alone suffers so excruciatingly that he was compelled to invent laughter.’<\/p>\n

‘O Captain, My Captain’, carpe diem…<\/em>wherever you are!<\/p>\n

Your fan,<\/p>\n

Varga Hosseini<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Robin, Goodbyes are never easy. In the face of every departure, words, images and memories are all we have. But do they ever suffice to account for what we have lost? A loss as inexplicable, immeasurable and devastating as yours. During the course of an extraordinary career, you gifted the world hours of laughter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2157,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/2157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinetikink.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}