What We Stay Alive For

Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke, a sweaty-toothed madman, and how we heal each other.

When I started my post from a few days ago about The Extremely Unreliable Critic, I’d originally intended for it to end differently than it did, with a different point to be made. But the muse took hold and the words went the direction that they went and instead I found myself writing about the universal psycho-cosmic thunderdome all of us enter as people trying to engage in any sort of creative act. I like where it ended up.

But I want to revisit Ethan Hawke’s beautiful talk about giving yourself permission to be creative that began that whole thing.

And before I get into Hawke’s talk, first I want to talk about something else it brings to mind, a movie Hawke starred in more than 30 years ago: 1989’s Oscar-winning The Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams as teacher John Keating some 25 years before Williams died from suicide. I mention that because it adds some weight to what we’re talking about here, and because it drives home the point Hawke is going to make for us by the end…