A year after Robin Williams’ death, people are still paying tribute at the Good Will Hunting bench

Your move, chief.

(John Buccigross)

When Robin Williams sadly passed away on this day last year, people flocked not to his home but a public bench in Boston.

It was where one of his best scenes in a film that featured one of his best performances was shot, and the powerful speech he gave on it as psychologist remains eternally relevant and resonant, reminding us to remain humble and accept that, as much as we think we know, we really know nothing at all.

The Good Will Hunting bench has become something of a monument to Williams, as evidenced by this photo taken on 6 August, 2015 that sees it roped off - chalk messages still etched into the asphalt.

As we reflect on his illustrious and exuberant career and hopefully learn lessons about how depression can be hidden behind a laugh or a smile, here is the infamous bench speech in full:

Will [Matt Damon]: So what's this? A Taster's Choice moment between guys? This is really nice. You got a thing for swans? Is this like a fetish? It's something, like, maybe we need to devote some time to?

Sean [Williams]: I thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting. Stayed up half the night thinking about it. Something occurred to me and I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep and haven't thought about you since. You know what occurred to me?

Will: No.

Sean: You're just a kid. You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about.

Will: Why, thank you.

Sean: It's all right. You've never been out of Boston.

Will: Nope.

Sean: If I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling.

If I asked you about women, you’d probably give me a syllabus of your personal favourites. You may even have been laid a few times. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy.

You’re a tough kid. If I asked you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? “Once more unto the breach dear friends”. But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help.

I’d ask you about love and you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable, known someone that could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you, who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms ‘visiting hours’ don’t apply to you. You don’t know about real loss, ’cause it only occurs when you’ve loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much.

When I look at you I don’t see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared sh*tless kid. But you’re a genius Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presumed to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my f*cking life apart.

You’re an orphan right? You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don’t give a sh*t about all that, because you know what, I can’t learn anything from you I can’t read in some f*ckking book.

Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I’m fascinated. I’m in. But you don't wanna do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.

The bench shortly after Williams' death in 2014 (Pic: Corbis)

@christophhooton