Spark of madness

Robin Williams made me a laugh, brought me much happiness through his movies. For that I'll be forever thankful. I probably loved him most in Mrs Doubtfire, a role that gave him much room for comedic expression.

It's been a few months since his death which has been attributed to suicide due to depression so why am I talking about him now?

I came across a quote attributed to Williams, "You're only given a little spark of madness. You musn't lose it." and wondered idly how many of us have lost that spark of madess. How many of us have had it ironed out of us by the uniformity that society (or at least Singaporean society) expects us to conform to. How many of us have tried to be different only to be gently or otherwise guided back to the tried and tested path because it was safer and because it's always been so and to do otherwise is to invite the possibility of 'otherness'.

I worry about this because at times in the education industry, I worry that we are 'educating' the uniqueness out of our younger generation.

Anyway, I always felt that he approached his movies differently, genuinely - there was always a sense that he vested a part of himself in his movies. He will be missed.