RIP Robin Williams

Many people in the world must have started this week with shocking news; Robin Williams passed away. He was one of my most favourite Hollywood actors.

As I wrote in an old post quite a while ago, Patch Adams, starring Robin Williams, is one of my favourite movies. See the old post for a very brief description of the movie (ironically, according to the news, he had suffered from depression before committing suicide). I am, again (or “still” in a sense), in a discouraging situation; I do something I did not hope to do when I planned to come to Canada. Now I should remember the feeling: the feeling of being encouraged by encouraging others, recalling what Robin Williams showed in the movie.

One good thing in this discouraging situation is that I have chances now to help and encourage others by talking about my experience. My Japanese friends work for an agency to support Japanese who come to Canada to learn English. One of the services they provide to those students is to pick them up at an airport and give them a ride to their host family, and I help them with my car. On the ride, I often talk about my experiences: how I have learned English, what living in a foreign country (i.e., Canada) is like, etc., which some of them find helpful. And I find helping and influencing other people with my experience encourages myself, just like Adams finds healing others heals himself.

R.I.P. Robin Williams, thank you for showing the courage to encourage others.

August 12, 2014Permalink