When I was a teenager, I piled into a car with a bunch of my friends and we headed to downtown Chattanooga ... and yes, we were most definitely on a mission. Maybe some of you are old enough to remember the television shows The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, and if you're just a young pup, you should Google them and take a peek ... if nothing else, you'll be blown away by the difference in technology between then and now. The stars of those two shows, Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner, were more than just famous, they were cool, too ... cool enough that my friends and I, along with most of the teenagers in Chattanooga, headed downtown to try and get a glimpse of them, or better yet, an autograph, at the event they were co-hosting. I ended up getting Lee's autograph, which I promptly sold to one of my female friends for a tidy sum, but I was bummed for quite a while that I didn't get to meet Lindsay. I had a ginormous crush on her and Lynda Carter (aka Wonder Woman) ... of course I did, duh. It wasn't the mesmerizing beauty of the two women that drew me to them, however, but rather the compassion and empathy embodied within the characters they portrayed ... it was their never-ending desire and quest to help others and make the world a better and safer place that garnered my admiration.
I'm well aware that I've written about the death of Robin Williams in my previous two posts, but something happened on Tuesday evening that I simply cannot get off of my mind ... something I feel I must write about tonight. I was at a meeting when a gentleman rose from his chair, climbed up on a table, and with tears streaming down his face said, "O Captain! My Captain!" There wasn't a dry eye in the room as the man spoke, his voice trembling with emotion.
"I became a teacher because I was so impacted by the way Robin Williams acted out his role in the movie Dead Poets Society. I always thought someday I might meet him and tell him I'm the man I am today in large part because he was my inspiration and my hero. And not just because my desire to be a teacher was sparked by that movie, but because his performances and natural gift of comedy brought light to me in my darkest hours. I know it's dumb, but I feel like I've lost one of my best friends."
And then I watched in amazement as first one and then another and then another and then another person rose to their feet until we were all standing ... the room's silence broken only by the sounds of people weeping.
As I, along with most of the world, have read and watched the coverage of the death of Mr. Williams this week, I've been most captivated not by the stories of how he died but by the stories of how he lived. By all accounts, he was a kind and generous man, and he helped people in ways that most of us can only dream of. I was especially struck by the words from one of his close friends who said, "Robin had rampant empathy." Rampant empathy ... rampant empathy ... rampant empathy ... each time those words pop into my mind, I can't help but think of a line from the movie Patch Adams.
"See what no one else sees. See what everyone chooses not to see."
Just think, friends ... just think how different the world would be if we all had rampant empathy. Think how it would be if we truly felt the pain of others ... if we truly saw their needs ... if we truly shared their struggles ... if we were all truly rampantly empathetic to others. I've got a feeling it would change the world ... I have a feeling it would indeed.
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