Life Lessons With Tim Robbins
July 23, 2011 by Deborah Calla
Filed under Blog
Yesterday, I went to see Tim Robbins, the actor, sing with his band. I was mildly interested in seeing his act – although Tim Robbins is a great actor – but much more excited about seeing the friend who was taking me and who knew him from when they were both students at UCLA.
When I first saw Tim, I was sitting at the bar before the show started, with my friend when he came by to say hello. As I still can’t help myself from being judgmental, I thought to myself; wow he has aged.
Tim had a great time singing. You could tell this was a guy who had found a different outlet for his talents. And he sang with his brother, sister, and the posters of his recently deceased parents. He made a show for himself maybe even more than to an audience.
As I watched the performance I realized there could be no other way, but what it is. Sorry to use Tim Robbins as an example as if he was my best friend – which he is not – but in his life development it made sense to have aged and go through the process of loss.
Let me make my point clear; – sorry again for using Tim – if Tim Robbins in his entire life continued to be young, good looking and successful, his life would come to a stop. At some point his ability to learn would be compromise and he would live in repetition. Aging, loosing success, and finding life in other ways, keeps him actively in the process of learning. And in the end that is what life is about– learning.
Most people complain about the changes that life is always throwing at us. Including aging and loss of being the “new and hot” thing. But without those changes, we wouldn’t be able to experience and gain wisdom.
In life’s school there is no qualitative difference between pleasant and unpleasant experiences. It all comes under the umbrella of living. Different experiences translate into wisdom. And that is the final frontier.
