what we stay alive for

When I was twelve years old I remember seeing Dead Poets Society in the theater with my parents.

Robin Williams, in an iconic role, plays a teacher at an elite boarding school who inspires his students through, well, through... poetry.

Sound like a snooze-fest?

Actually, it's a story about non-conformity and finding the courage to follow your own path. And despite the overwhelming white male-ness of it all, I think it remains a powerful film.

"Carpe Diem... Seize the day... make your lives extraordinary!"

To say it impacted 12-year-old me is an understatement.

At the end of the movie, I remember sitting through the credits and then standing up in my theater seat and shouting "O Captain, my Captain!"

Yup. I was a nerd.

In one pivotal scene, Robin Williams' character, Mr. Keating, huddles his class together - boys being groomed by their parents for careers in business, law, or medicine - and tries to impress on them the importance of the liberal arts.

"We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute," he says, crouching low.

"We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.

"And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life."

"But," and the camera cuts to a close-up of Robin Williams' character as he delivers this line:

"Poetry... beauty... romance... love. These are what we stay alive for."

At face value, it may seem like he is pitting the arts against STEM roles, or telling us that right-brained activities are intrinsically more noble than left.

I don't think so.

Instead, I think Dead Poets Society is trying to remind us that there are other ways of measuring the value of a career, a hobby, or of a life, beyond the earning potential of that pursuit.

There are things in life that are worth doing simply because they make you feel more alive.

There are things in life that are worth doing simply because they make you feel more alive.

When was a time in your life when you felt most alive... when you felt most connected to that passion, beauty, and love? And what would it look like for you - no matter what your current job is - to cultivate a little more of that passion that once animated you?

On a very practical level, I think it means doing what we can to make time in our very busy professional lives for beauty, whatever that may look like.

From visiting museums to spending time in nature to listening to songs that inspire.

Dead Poets Society gives us permission - actually, it implores us - to not ignore that beating thing inside each of our chests.

So, roll the windows down. Turn the music up. Sing at the top of your lungs. Suck the marrow out of life. And, yes, maybe try reading a poem. Better yet, try writing one of your own.

This is, after all, your one life.

#beauty #creativity #inspiration #passion #film