Dateline: June 2, 1989. the film "Dead Poets Society" starring Robin Williams, premieres. Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry
The film popularized the aphorism Carpe diem, a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace, translated as "seize the day".The phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero –
"Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the future". The ode says that the future is unforeseen, and that instead one should
scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine.
One of my favorite scene is when John Keating (Williams) is about to exit, one of his students calls out "O Captain! My Captain!" and stands on his desk. The principal ordered him to sit down or face expulsion. Much of the class climb onto their desks and look to Keating, ignoring the principal' s orders until he gives up. Keating leaves visibly touched.
"Carpe Diem ."And if not now, Then when?" It encourages youth to enjoy life before it is too late.
It is significant to note that Carpe Diem, in essence, somewhat became the slogan for youth activism. U.P. Collegian editor
Abraham Sarmiento, Jr.,
pricked the conscience of many youngsters as he asked on the front page of the
college paper: Sino ang kikibo kung hindi tayo kikibo? Sino ang kikilos kung hindi tayo kikilos? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa? . A dissenting opinion in one Supreme Court decision cited this phrase adding that "Countless others forfeited
their lives and stand as witnesses to the tyranny and repression of the
past regime. Driven by their dreams to free our motherland from poverty,
oppression, iniquity and injustice, many of our youthful leaders were
to make the supreme sacrifice."
In December 1975, Sarmiento, Jr. and Fides Lim, the managing editor of the Collegian were picked up for questioning by the military, in connection with an editorial entitled "Purge II" which Sarmiento, Jr. had written. They were released shortly, but not before they were brought before then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, who personally expressed displeasure over the editorial . He was later locked up in the military camp and released only when he was
near death from a severe attack of asthma, to which he succumbed. Among the arresting officers was Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Other significant events this day: in 1980, the movie "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes," was released in Germany. In 1896 , Guglielmo Marconi applied for a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
