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Last week,\u00a0I had some thoughts<\/a>\u00a0on the suicide of Robin Williams. While they\u00a0deviated a bit harshly from the norm, I stand by what I said, because some balance was desperately needed amid the obsessive adoration. However,\u00a0I can\u2019t deny that once my attention was drawn to this character and the characters he created, it was difficult for me not to be drawn further in. It\u2019s a rare talent that can\u00a0leave you limp\u00a0with laughter<\/a> in\u00a0one moment and move you to tears<\/a> in the next. This sad, strange little man filled me with curious fascination, yet simultaneously, with pity.\u00a0That was his way.<\/p>\n By sheer coincidence, I was recently \u00a0listening to some Bruce Hornsby music and came across a little-known song called \u201cLost Soul.\u201d The lyric brought me up short, because it was so startlingly poignant and apt. With surprising speed, something came together in my mind and my movie making software. I began to create and edit. The song as a whole moved me, but the truly devastating part comes in verse three. After speaking in the third person, the singer takes on the voice of the lost soul himself:<\/p>\n When I see you on the street in the twilight<\/em> That\u2019s the verse that stopped me in my tracks. That\u2019s Robin Williams in four lines.\u00a0Then in the chorus, there\u2019s actually a key lyrical difference between the studio version and the much superior live version, which I chose to use for this video. The original lyric says:<\/p>\n However, the live version quite clearly says \u201cRow the boat of the loved, lost soul<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d\u00a0In my opinion, this is much more powerful and\u00a0meaningful. And while in this context, the line about \u201crowing the boat to the far shore\u201d could be taken by some people as a reference to heaven, that\u2019s not my intention, nor do I think it fits the song\u2019s actual meaning. I believe a more accurate interpretation is that extending friendship to those who badly need it takes you on a journey. The end may not be clear, but launching out\u00a0is worth it for a glimpse inside this lost soul, in\u00a0all its divinely stamped\u00a0madness\u00a0and wonder.<\/p>\n Let me be clear about what this video is\u00a0not<\/em>: It is not\u00a0<\/em>intended to follow in the train of\u00a0utter\u00a0schlock being produced in\u00a0\u201ctribute\u201d to Robin Williams right now. It is\u00a0<\/em>a tribute\u2014to\u00a0his undeniable gifts\u00a0and to his human spark. In the recent words of Billy Crystal: \u201cRobin Williams. What a concept.\u201d At the same time, it does not<\/em>\u00a0shy away\u00a0from the final, inescapably dark truth\u00a0that this\u00a0is a lost\u00a0<\/em>soul, in more ways than one. There is no\u00a0happy ending here. No\u00a0\u201cgenie you\u2019re free,\u201d and no clips\u00a0of smiling\u00a0Robin Williams characters trotting around heaven or flying through puffy white clouds to the tune of \u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow.\u201d (Instead, there is a clip at the end of Williams himself laughing with his own daughter\u2014the daughter he left behind.)\u00a0<\/span>I didn\u2019t create this project to sentimentalize the death\u00a0of Robin Williams. I created\u00a0it\u00a0because as I said in my original thoughts, Robin\u00a0Williams captured the human condition. The story of paradise lost is written on his face.\u00a0When we look into his soul, we see all\u00a0lost souls. To sum it up in a sentence, you\u00a0might say that this video is my attempt to see Robin Williams as God sees\u00a0Robin Williams.
\nThe finished product surprised even myself.<\/p>\n
\nI may tip my hat and keep my head down<\/em>
\nYou show me love, but maybe I don\u2019t deserve it<\/em>
\nI\u2019ve been called but not, but not been found\u2026<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
There\u2019s a lost soul coming down the road<\/em>
\nSomewhere between two worlds<\/em>
\nWith an oar in his hands and a song on your lips<\/em>
\nWe\u2019ll row the boat to the far, far shore<\/em>
\nRow the boat of love, lost soul<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\nYou will hear some voiceovers with quotes from several of Williams\u2019s movies. These were also deliberately chosen and juxtaposed\u00a0to reflect\u00a0truth, not sentiment. As one example, I introduce a segment with one of his\u00a0inspiring quotes from Walt Whitman in\u00a0Dead Poets Society<\/em>, then follow up with a clip from his\u00a0telling of an old legend called \u201cThe Fisher King\u201d (from the movie of the same name). The hopeless way he describes the king in the legend perfectly describes Williams himself in his last days,\u00a0and it provides a sobering\u00a0counter-point to the life-affirming Whitman quote. His character in that film is a half-mad homeless vagrant, and footage from\u00a0it\u00a0also weaves its way throughout.
\nFinally, I end the video\u00a0with a verse from the prophecy of Zechariah in Luke chapter 1, containing the greatest truth of all. It is too late for this last and best glimmer of hope to reach Williams. Yet it goes out to every lost soul who is still here to see it piercing the darkness. To the Christian viewer, I hope this inspires you to send a gleam across the wave today. Thanks for watching:<\/p>\n