I would be pleased to write something profound, and as yet
unsaid, about the loss of comedic talent Robin Williams. This will not happen.
When I reflect on my exposure to Mr. Williams over many
years, it will be like everyone else in his audiences. I have known him about
the length of a movie here, the time it takes to watch a sitcom there, a talk
show interview from time to time. One of the reasons I, the Alpha introvert,
admired him was his relentless unfiltered imagination. Didn’t he love to
perform? Didn’t he love to be ‘on’?
From the dusty files of my mid 20th century
formative years I remember clearly this aphorism. “You are who you are when
you’re by yourself.” There are moments when my solitary, tinkering, bumbling
self doesn’t resemble who I present to the public, and never will; but all in
all, being me is pretty fun.
It must be that Robin Williams had excruciating trouble when
he wasn’t guy in the spotlight with the mike. I wonder if this source of fun
for millions stopped being fun to his own self?
As a person with personal experience with three generations of
mental/emotional illness, I can conjecture some impossibly difficult stretches,
long, dark nights and endless, deep heartaches. How sad, how hard.
It must be excruciating to make an end of life decision that
would effect so many. A poster comes to
mind along this line, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you
know nothing about.” Life sometimes disappoints.
I think God wants me to be kind to others . . . to
energetically work for improved mental health services . . .
to love and respect myself as I have been made in God’s image . . . to
laugh more often and more easily.
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