Tuesday, August 12, 2014
I can't get the death of Robin Williams out of my mind this morning. And I can clearly see at least somewhat why this is true.
Judy Garland. Michael Jackson. Heath Ledger. And now Robin Williams. Yet again the world loses a great entertainer...and far too soon. And I just don't understand it.
What floors me about Robin Williams' death is that he was the last person I ever expected to die from an apparent suicide. I say apparent because until I know this has been confirmed I do not want to assume this is true. Reputations are ruined due to unfounded assumptions. I know this truth all too well. I suffered a lot last year due to the unfounded conclusions of a number of people who misunderstood my behavior last summer. But somehow that piece of my life has led me to the person I am today. Maybe all my suffering will ultimately prove to have been worthwhile.
Suffering. What floors me about celebrities like the ones I have noted above is how much they enrich the world and how riveting their roles can be...and how they can nonetheless die in tragic ways. Judy Garland is well known for her role as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Michael Jackson was a musical superstar. Heath Ledger was well known for his role in Brokeback Mountain. And of course Robin Williams was well known for his many roles over the course of several decades. A role Williams played which touched me deeply was the therapist he played in the movie Good Will Hunting. Starring with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Williams played a therapist living in Boston who had seen his own share of suffering as a child.
The question that keeps going through my mind over and over again is how can performers who play such powerful, magical and riveting roles later go on to die such tragic deaths? How can a performer portray a character who has suffered so immensely, appreciate the tragedy of the all too frequent tragedy of people throwing away (or never fulfilling) their amazing potential and then go on to do the very same thing? How can you play roles like what I enumerated above and not be so changed by the experience of the portrayal that you are able to find the strength to endure your own hardship and pain? This is why I wonder now.
Robin Williams was an incredibly adept actor. I remember him well in his roles in Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting and Ms. Doubtfire. How can a man who was willing to play a character who was so determined to have quality time with his children that he impersonated a matronly nanny (and made a body suit to accommodate that impersonation) die in such an unfortunate way? He played the character of Ms. Doubtfire so well! You could really empathize with his character when he begged the judge not to restrict his access to his children. You could appreciate how much he yearned to be a real father to his children by the lengths he went to such that he could spend time with them. Honestly, do you know many (any?) men who would go to such lengths to remain a real presence in their children's lives? I do not.
This is precisely why the deaths of celebrities like Williams confound me. If indeed he did die of suicide I can't help but wonder how he could inhabit and convincingly and powerfully portray such characters as he did and yet not somehow sufficiently incorporate the experience and wisdom I assume would come from playing these roles such that he would know that he is not alone in his suffering and that suicide is rarely an answer.
Why do I say 'rarely' rather than 'ever'? I can make a few exceptions in which I feel I can understand why someone would wish to terminate his life. One case is when a person is terminally ill and the pain of going on living is so excruciating that it is actually an act of mercy to end your own life. Euthanasia is often a hotly debated issue. But I never have believed I have the right to tell someone else when they get to die. If a person is in excruciating pain and there is no reasonable prospect of alleviating the pain or healing the issues causing the pain then I can understand a person choosing to end his own life. But the problem, of course, is that sometimes we become so wrapped up in our suffering that we cannot see beyond ourselves sufficiently to try to continue onwards for another month, week, day or even hour. Sometimes the pain is that bad. And it really sucks when the pain becomes that bad!
If you know someone in an incredible amount of pain please reach out to that person today. Doing so might save a life.
Robin, I am going to miss you. You lit up the world with your humor. You have left us far too soon.
- One of your many fans...
I can't get the death of Robin Williams out of my mind this morning. And I can clearly see at least somewhat why this is true.
Judy Garland. Michael Jackson. Heath Ledger. And now Robin Williams. Yet again the world loses a great entertainer...and far too soon. And I just don't understand it.
What floors me about Robin Williams' death is that he was the last person I ever expected to die from an apparent suicide. I say apparent because until I know this has been confirmed I do not want to assume this is true. Reputations are ruined due to unfounded assumptions. I know this truth all too well. I suffered a lot last year due to the unfounded conclusions of a number of people who misunderstood my behavior last summer. But somehow that piece of my life has led me to the person I am today. Maybe all my suffering will ultimately prove to have been worthwhile.
Suffering. What floors me about celebrities like the ones I have noted above is how much they enrich the world and how riveting their roles can be...and how they can nonetheless die in tragic ways. Judy Garland is well known for her role as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Michael Jackson was a musical superstar. Heath Ledger was well known for his role in Brokeback Mountain. And of course Robin Williams was well known for his many roles over the course of several decades. A role Williams played which touched me deeply was the therapist he played in the movie Good Will Hunting. Starring with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Williams played a therapist living in Boston who had seen his own share of suffering as a child.
The question that keeps going through my mind over and over again is how can performers who play such powerful, magical and riveting roles later go on to die such tragic deaths? How can a performer portray a character who has suffered so immensely, appreciate the tragedy of the all too frequent tragedy of people throwing away (or never fulfilling) their amazing potential and then go on to do the very same thing? How can you play roles like what I enumerated above and not be so changed by the experience of the portrayal that you are able to find the strength to endure your own hardship and pain? This is why I wonder now.
Robin Williams was an incredibly adept actor. I remember him well in his roles in Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting and Ms. Doubtfire. How can a man who was willing to play a character who was so determined to have quality time with his children that he impersonated a matronly nanny (and made a body suit to accommodate that impersonation) die in such an unfortunate way? He played the character of Ms. Doubtfire so well! You could really empathize with his character when he begged the judge not to restrict his access to his children. You could appreciate how much he yearned to be a real father to his children by the lengths he went to such that he could spend time with them. Honestly, do you know many (any?) men who would go to such lengths to remain a real presence in their children's lives? I do not.
This is precisely why the deaths of celebrities like Williams confound me. If indeed he did die of suicide I can't help but wonder how he could inhabit and convincingly and powerfully portray such characters as he did and yet not somehow sufficiently incorporate the experience and wisdom I assume would come from playing these roles such that he would know that he is not alone in his suffering and that suicide is rarely an answer.
Why do I say 'rarely' rather than 'ever'? I can make a few exceptions in which I feel I can understand why someone would wish to terminate his life. One case is when a person is terminally ill and the pain of going on living is so excruciating that it is actually an act of mercy to end your own life. Euthanasia is often a hotly debated issue. But I never have believed I have the right to tell someone else when they get to die. If a person is in excruciating pain and there is no reasonable prospect of alleviating the pain or healing the issues causing the pain then I can understand a person choosing to end his own life. But the problem, of course, is that sometimes we become so wrapped up in our suffering that we cannot see beyond ourselves sufficiently to try to continue onwards for another month, week, day or even hour. Sometimes the pain is that bad. And it really sucks when the pain becomes that bad!
If you know someone in an incredible amount of pain please reach out to that person today. Doing so might save a life.
Robin, I am going to miss you. You lit up the world with your humor. You have left us far too soon.
- One of your many fans...
i think being great at playing other people was part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteyou can entertain your real pain away - the clown can always hide.