What being a teacher was like

hello,

I've been very busy here with my home renovations, the new book first draft, work and life. While my small universe turns and turns, Robin Williams died.

I'm Brazilian, always lived in Rio and never had the pleasure of  watching him live but I watched him over and over, countless times, recognized his voice on cartoons and was sad when I learned the Mrs Doubtfire's opening cartoon was not a real show. That bird was hilarious!

Most of all, Robin Williams ordered as to seize our days when I was in school studying to be a teacher. Here in Brazil, high school can be professionalizing and I chose elementary school teacher course following my parents' and sister's footsteps. Also, here in Brazil, education is a touchy subject, especially in the eighties when our illiterate rates were very high.

Studying to be a teacher at that time was mostly discussing the new horizons of education and how we - a bunch of teenagers who believed they could change the world one classroom at a time - fit in.

That's when Robin Williams taught us what we wanted to learn:
how to kick ass giving classes, inspire students and ourselves.

It felt like he was speaking directly to us since we were studying to be teachers! Never mind director Peter Weir, writer Tom Schulman or the Montgomery Bell Academy. It was Robin Williams alone who spoke to us, who confused our heads so much that we alternated the need to be Mr Keating or the longing of not being Neil, Todd, Knox, Charlie, Richard, Steven or Gerard.

(Let me register here that the class was 95% girls and we also wanted to date the boys.)

Anyway, 
Carpe Diem 
was what we both wanted to say and hear.

I'm so sad this amazing actor is gone because my five-year-old son won't have the opportunity of being taught any new lesson from Mr. Williams. What if there came another amazing movie when Mr. Williams played an outstanding... rock scientist when my son was entering college? 

My son is still to choose what to do with his life. But if his profession turn out to be a MD, psychiatrist, sailor, wrestler, writer (better than me), radio DJ, club owner, president of the nation, voice actor, actor or, to my great delight, he decides not to grow and be Peter Pan I'll make sure he learns the lessons Mr. Williams left us.

RIP, 

Captain, 

our Captain.