Robin through Writing
I’ve stumbled on some of Robin’s writing pieces, and I must say, he is quite the character. His writing is very open and honest. Thinking about it, everything he writes tends to be written as if he were just talking in his own voice; and when I say that, I mean it quite literally; he is simply putting his words to paper. It is very clear that Robin is a person would just tell it like it is, no sugar coating involved. At the same time though, not once does he lose his cool. In one of his pieces, he describes an event when a family member of his basically told him that his choice of profession wasn’t good enough, to which he just walked away instead of making a scene. But at the same time, like I said, he has a blunt sense of honesty…but he also seems to know when it’s appropriate.
In a bluntly honest Robin-form, 90% of the time, he comes off as a sarcastic smart ass. I’m not saying this is a bad thing…I’m just saying it. No matter what he’s writing, he can’t help but throw in some wit and humor. Even when he’s talking about traumatic events, he’ll throw in a light hearted story about how he told his dad to fuck off (in the most endearing of ways of course). He can’t help it. It is plain to see that Robin is the type of person who would go with the flow. He’s light hearted, makes the best of shitty situations, and whenever possible, will try to be witty. I think that’s one of things I like about him really. I’m sure that his sarcastic nature can prove to be infuriating at times, but I think it’s a part of his charm, so long as you don’t take everything too seriously and/or personally.
One thing I can give him a little credit for is that there’s never any doubt that he’s being sarcastic; he even italicizes his sarcasm to make sure it’s understood correctly. Of course, it is also plain to see that his being a smart ass can go beyond sarcasm; there are other times that he’ll intentionally mislead the reader into expecting a certain tone, and then take a complete 180 and reveal the metaphoric joke he was building up to. The perfect example of this is his piece on the loss of innocence. The way he sets everything up is just wonderful. It starts off so serious, talking about how Ignorance is Bliss, and Knowledge is Power, and how society seems bent on deceiving it’s people, causing them to lose all of their innocence and such…and then he springs it on us: THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY! AND SANTA CLAUSE ISN’T REAL EITHER!!! I just about choked on the water I was drinking. I can only imagine the tricks that he pulls in real life. And of course, the fact that he is a thespian would only help him stage his humor. As illustrated in quite a few of his pieces, this playful wit is a byproduct of his relationship with his father, a mischief maker himself.
I’m glad that I have his pieces about his family. Through them, Robin has grown up to be a rather…ummm…eclectic; yeah…we’ll go with that. I guess the first thing we should look at is where he gets his sense of mischievous humor. Hands down, he attributes this to his father. His relationship with his father is very loving, close, and filled with the sort of banter that could drive some people completely crazy. I for one could make the claim that they have a sick sense of humor. In the end though, looking back on the stunts they’ve pulled, I would imagine that I’d appreciate the experiences and have them in my repertoire of good stories to tell. Riddles, puzzles, somewhat sadistic jokes, and a sarcastic sense of humor are all things that I can clearly see painted on the pages before me.
Moving on though, there is so much more to Robin than his sense of humor, and his family is the root of it all. He is truly a collage of his parent’s backgrounds. Robin seems to have a strong sense of who he is and where he acquired his various traits. One thing that is evident here is that he seems to be the type of person that will try to see things from both sides, seeing the good and bad in any situation. I can only imagine that shows him to be a well grounded individual. Anyhow, where was I? Oh yeah…where he acquired his various traits. In his piece on his family history, he opened it up beautifully, saying,
It isn’t politically correct to make generalizations about somebody’s culture, race, or ethnicity…unless you’re talking about your own. That being said, I have all the freedom I want to speak about Indians, good, bad, or stereotypical.
And boy, did he. As he does, he laid into the culture, pointing out everything he didn’t like about it. This was very telling actually. Looking at his ranting, it is plain to see that Robin believes in a person having the power and encouragement to find their own passion in life. He found the pressure for Indians to become doctors or engineers to go against everything he believed in. I think his bashing of the Indian culture has a lot to do with The American Dream. He very clearly is of the mindset that a person should go after what they want, and not what their parents or culture would demand of them. His rant here, as well as other stories he shared shows a true commitment to teaching. There is no questioning that he is in the right profession. He went against the pressures on his Indian community, went back to work within days of brain surgery, against doctors orders, and the things he’s done for his students go beyond the simple job description.
What’s even more interesting here is that he attributes many of these positive characteristics to his Indian heritage. Robin is very lucky to have the family that he does. His parents love him and in almost all other aspects, his family supports him. Although the Indian community he describes has it’s flaws, in his eyes, he is able to see the other side and realized that everything they do is out of love, and wishing only the best for their children. As he goes on to explain, I love the way he displays the generosity that he learned from his family’s background. Very nonchalantly, he tells a couple stories of how he has benefited from generosity, and then he goes on to show how he paid it forward in amazing ways. Robin is the type of person to learn from his experiences and affect the world accordingly. His heart was raised with so much love and generosity that he gave his car to one of his senior students, Sora, just to ensure her graduation. Just like his parents believe in him, he believes in Sora. And for a person like that, he’d do anything. The only payment he asked for was telling her, just prove me right, which she has done, and he could not be happier with any other decision he’s ever made. Events like this will forever feed his belief system, and his commitment to his values.
Aside from his family, it is evident that Robin is someone who values the reflection on past events. The piece that most heavily comes to mind is his set of abridged journal entries concerning his brain surgeries. He is in touch with his emotions, there is no questioning that. What’s better though, is that he actively tries to figure out how his traumatic experience has changed him. His journal format for his piece on his growth through his brain surgeries shows a great transition over time, both in emotions and outlooks on life.
His writing is cathartic for him. It’s very evident that at some point, he was taught the value of keeping a journal, or perhaps he just had a nudge into creating one and found the value on his own. Either way, at some point, writing became a major part of his life. It was no longer something that he did for only school or work, he began writing for himself. No one asked him to keep a journal, to fill up hundreds of pages with personal writings, to reflect on all that comes into his mind; he does it because he feels a personal need to.
His writing has shaped him as a person, and he knows it. In one of his pieces, he wrote, sometimes when I write for me, I do it because my words need to be said, but I don’t necessarily feel free to say them. However, I still need to say them so badly that I absolutely must find a way to express them, even if no one is listening. Robin clearly believes that feelings, thoughts, and emotions aren’t supposed to be bottled up inside. He also has formed an incredibly strong opinion of the world around him, and what he can and can not share with it.
Every now and then, a person just needs to scream
To let their words pour out of them without restraint
We are taught not to do this
We are taught to think before we act
To think before we speak
To bottle up the true thoughts and words that flow endlessly thorough our mind…
The world tells us to not get emotional, but Robin refuses to conform; he will not be an unemotional slut. There are people like that in the world, all over the place, people who fear being hurt or disappointed, and will therefore shut themselves emotionally off entirely. But not Robin, his parents loved him, gave him a wonderful childhood, believed in him, and let him know it. He grew up in a family that was open and honest, where feelings were shared, love was given, anger was expressed, and dreams were made. He was brought up to believe in the American Dream, so to speak.
Also, somewhere along the way, in his analysis of the idiocy of human beings, he formed a resentment of society’s pressures to control oneself, especially those constraints that are placed on men, stating that being emotional is being a pansy, to have fear is to be less of a man, and to cry…is to be a woman. If I had to guess, I would claim that these strong opinionated emotions are a result of comparing other men, and their more superficial relationships, to that of his relationship with his father, who is an emotionally available person himself.
Knowing how strong a person needs to be in order to open themselves up, and experiencing the wealth of benefits from such a relationship himself, it pains him to see a world in which close bonds aren’t nurtured. Because of all this, not only does Robin believe that it is okay for him to be emotional, chase after that which is true for him, and do it all despite all outside societal and social pressures, he possesses an indefatigable passion for helping others share that dream. He lives it, he writes it, and as we see from one of his pieces, he sometimes screams it.
One thing that is made clear through his writing is that Robin has always been one to live in the moment, going with the mentality that some things are worth staying up for. That being the case, he seems to have few regrets in life, because he refused to say what if? He would rather try and fail than never know, and he will try to infect the world with his passion, because what the world needs most, is more passionate people. His outlook on life was stated perfectly at the end of his journal entries: Live, Love, Laugh…then let the rest fall into place.