People’s minds are fascinating, especially those who give you permission to explore them.
When I recently asked a friend to narrow down his favorite comedian turned actor whose movies they could never grow tired of, without hesitation they mentioned the late Robin Williams.
I agreed with him, and we spouted off some of our favorite movies— Jack, Hook, Dead Poet’s Society, Patch Adams, Good Will Hunting & Mrs. Doubtfire to name a few.
We determined he was both of our favorites because of his dynamic ability to morph into his characters in a way that shows that he isn’t a typecast comedian or actor. He has the depth and aptitude to bring various characters to life in such a way that if you decided to have a Robin Williams movie marathon, you would be taken on a dynamic thought-provoking adventure.
As I searched Netflix for something to watch this evening after a stressful week at work, I searched for anything with Robin Williams and I was met with a film I hadn’t seen: Awakenings. A movie based on a true story of a neurological doctor who treats patients in a mental institution who suffer from a disease that left the people affected by it stone statues: unable to move, make eye contact or even be receptive to most stimuli.
It was as though the disease that plagued these patients left them with the appearance of life but with the behavior of death.
After some thorough research, Robin Williams’s character begins making discoveries in subtle nuances in their behavior that leads him to a drug which drastically impacts the quality of life of his patients.
Once human, then human statues only to return to their original humanness.
What’s so profound about this film is that it sheds light on those of us who appear to be living but behave as though we’re dead— no purpose, nothing to live for. Simply a human who lives as though they got hit by a bus, only to continue to hope day by day, that they could actually experience that reality.
There’s so much of our life we take for granted. And I am no exception.
All week my attitude about life has been nothing short of the response of someone who did, in fact, get hit by a bus— metaphorically speaking.
With ongoing illness, the stress of starting a new job, being overwhelmed with change, and 12 inch ice age, making it impossible to go outside the walls of my tiny apartment for 3 days— all of these things gave me a rather Scrooge-like attitude.
But even in the midst of my week that felt so exhausting, and frustrating— all valid feelings, I might add, seeing these people who were stuck in their own mind, without the ability to move, talk or signal any communication even with a vibrant mind, was a reality I couldn’t fathom but was a reality for Leonard, played beautifully by Robert Di Niro in the film.
He mentioned just how much of our lives we take for granted, even going so far as to not live life at all.
Some of us live our life as though we’re dead.
Without hope, intentionality, hobbies, relationships… any source of joy.
But if we can tune our minds to look for the good, in the midst of the frustrating, upsetting annoyances we experience daily, perhaps our attitudes towards life would be a bit more joyful. Maybe our lives would reflect purpose rather than reflecting a life frozen, simply petrified in time.
Is it really that we experience nothing to be grateful for? Or do we simply not make the time to focus on it?
I’m thankful I had a fight with my best friend a week ago because it lets me know our friendship is worth fighting for. And through our fight we can be better friends to each other.
I’m thankful for the stress that I have at my job because it forces me to stretch and grow beyond my current capabilities.
I’m thankful for my tiny apartment because “cramped” is the new “cozy”, and I don’t need much to recharge.
It’s not only about contentment it’s acknowledging that at any moment the things I feel I’m entitled to: a best friend, a job, or an apartment could go away in an instant.
It takes more time to be thankful than it does to complain, but being thankful adds life to your life rather than take it away, and it’ll get taken away eventually. Fate doesn’t need your help accelerating the inevitable with a bad attitude.
andrea statler 