Sarah Michelle Gellar Remembers Robin Williams

Although it honestly doesn't feel like it, a year has passed since Robin Williams passed away at the age of 63, shocking the world with his suicide and bringing depression awareness back to the forefront of the our minds as we mourned the loss of an acting and comedy legend. I don't know about you, but it's still hard for me to watch Aladdin and Jumanji without tearing up, let alone Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society. Naturally, we are far from alone in our lingering grief. Sarah Michelle Gellar posted a tribute to Robin Williams on her Instagram before the anniversary of his death.

Gellar, who starred alongside Williams in The Crazy Ones — his final television role — played his on-screen daughter, and her post is indicates she saw the actor as family. The picture is the infamous Good Will Hunting bench. (You know, the one in Boston where Matt Damon and Williams sat during that particular scene in Good Will Hunting that none of us will ever forget.) That bench, like many across America, was turned into a tribute to Williams in the days after his death, and there is indeed a bouquet of flowers resting atop it. She combines the photograph with a powerful Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, tacking on her own short, heartwarming message at the end to really drive home the poignancy of this image.

Gellar is so far one of the first celebrities to post a tribute to the late actor, but she surely won't be the last. Williams' career spanned decades, and, not only did he touch the hearts and lives of a broad audience, but he also touched the hearts and lives of his fellow actors and friends as well. There are those who owe their careers to him, those who got the pleasure of working with him and will never forget the experience, and those who just knew him in his everyday life and loved the man even more so than his work. Whether it has been one year or ten years since his passing, it still hurts to remember how quickly a light that shines as brightly as Williams can go out.

So as we remember Williams, as a person, as an actor, as a comedian, as an inspiration, it's always best to remember his immortal line from his role in Patch Adams: "Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death." And what improves the quality of life better than putting on a Williams movie while looking through all the tributes to him that are sure to crop on Tuesday and trying not to cry? Good luck with that, because I'm already failing.