Hitting Bottom? NO! Responsibility..not really

Everybody is dealt a hand of cards in life, and sometimes that hand has a lot of pain and sadness in it. There is no promise of happiness in life. That pain is part and parcel of who you are and you can not run from it. You can not be somebody else. If you come to terms with that pain then you can have peace of mind and an carry on with your life and you might even find some happiness.

When Mr Williams was "ON" with his gregarious persona (which he used to hide the pain), nobody saw the sadness or pain behind the mask. After awhile everybody expected him to be "on" which was something that he could not escape.

One day one thinks that Mr Williams came to the realization that he did not have the will or ability to turn off the switch of being a funny guy of always being on. To turn off the switch just to be himself which was full of sadness. Since he could not bear to wear the mask of being a funny guy anymore and could not turn it off. So the only way out was to cease being, to end it all.


To whit Sandy a week and a half before she died of Cancer at 68 said while clenching her fist and softly hitting the sofa, "Ted I am dying, and it is not fair." Which means that she appreciated what a precious gift life is, and she knew it was being cut short. The last cogent thing Sandy said to me in a barely audible voice was, "Ted I am so sick." After that Sandy was in another world/place before she died.

So in the end one does think that Mr Williams did take the easy way out

Rest in Peace - I am shocked by this news. I missed it until the paper this morning. I enjoyed his movies since he moved out of the egg in Boulder. He could free-associate like no other. Has anyone mentioned how hairy he was?? Liked his biking. Had a soft spot in his heart for kids - i.e. Patch Adams - the movie about being a fun kids doctor.

He regularly visited kids in the UCSF hospital. My son got his visit at Christmas time 2005 - ghostly sick in the ICU after surgery. Only Robin could get away with his words to me in a Popeye voice after wishing my son Merry Christmas - "Not much of a talker, is he?" Five days later my son was back at it playing again - until getting his stem cell transplant a few months later.

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“He could make everybody happy but himself.” -Garry Marshall

I read that he went and cheered up his good friend Christopher Reeve in the hospital after his accident. And that it was the first time that he had laughed since the accident.

What was even more touching was that during Juilliard when the two were enrolled there, Robin Williams said that he was literally broke and that Christopher Reeve would share his meals with him.

He will be missed.

RIP good sir. Thanks for all the laughs. You will defiantly will be missed.

From Huffpost: Apparently, the Academy Awards rejected the bid for "Aladdin" in the Best Adapted Screenplay category because so much of Williams role ended up being improvised. According to producer and director John Musker, Williams ended up improvising about 70 impressions to be used in the film as well. In a Reddit AMA, Williams explained:

I can't do that. You can't do that. Pretty much no one else could do that. The sheer genius required to execute such a feat is no doubt driven by a madness that is barely kept under control.

Every day people perform heroic acts. Most of them are small and receive no notice. But often that is because those acts *can* be performed by others. Some things are only attainable by a select few, and society generally celebrates those people - for better, or for worse.

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I may have missed this in reading others posts on Robin Williams' passing - but for those of you who wish (many of you are already aware) there are some greats clips of him on 'youtube' with Johnny Carson & David Letterman that are hilarious.

Thanks for the many many laughs Robin - R.I.P.

JB

Did you know any of those veterans? Probably not at all. Did you know Robin Williams, probably very well. Just because a veteran commits suiside should not make it any more different than some actor, they are all human beings, but because that actor has had such a big influence on the entire country, it's a bit above the others in the news. A cook in the army is a cook in the army.

God. If we ever had the ability to turn back time this is when we would do it .
Such a huge loss.

TABS, as with most/ all of your posts, I really want to say that I agree, but this is such a stream of consciousness, scattershot post, I really can't say that you have a point to agree with. RW had a lot of pain in his life. That is my Captain Obvious statement. He dealt with it poorly. Ok - what I am saying is that he didn't reach the turnaround point. He just veered off and crashed and burned. A lot of people hit bottom. They lose everything, and then their recovery starts. Addiction, narcism, histrionic behavior, etc are all reactions to pain of some sort, and they make depression harder to deal with.

Wow--how cool! How's your boy now?

Terry

I understand the sadness people have over Williams punching his ticket too early. I loved his comic ability. He was a master of the toughest form of comedy: ad lib. A great cut from the same cloth as Jonathan Winters. It takes far more talent to do what he did rather than just stand there and curse and tell dirty jokes.

Unfortunately, many people (not pointing to anyone on this board) mourn the loss of what Robin Williams did for them rather than sadness for his torment and tragic end. That isn't empathy at all but veiled selfishness. The comparison of Williams to veterans doesn't comment on Williams at all. It shines a bright light on you and I.

Williams was comic genius but didn't show the valor of a hero to be admired. He earned respect for his skill. He never earned the honor a hero deserves. Society worships celebrity rather than integrity. When Mother Teresa died she was a short bi-line drowned out by a flood of celebrity worship for Princess Di.

I have a hard time understanding great personal mourning for someone I never met and never knew. A musician made great music or a comedian made me laugh but I don't really know them. As such, I am mourning my loss of what they did for me. Selfishness.

Will I miss Robin Williams? Hell yes. He was a skilled actor and comedian.

Maybe the wrong person succeeded.

Rush Limbaugh says ‘leftist ways’ killed Robin Williams - The Margin - MarketWatch

Rush is an idiot who epitomizes the kind of person who feeds off of the bad things in the world for personal gain. Right up there with Jesse Jackson....

Carrion eater.

Vulture.

Scum bag of a depth, breadth and foulness that only a few on this list can even hope to achieve...all though a few seem to trying very hard.

Rush makes me embarrassed to hold social, fiscal and religious conservative views.

Dennis

i don't think depression severe enough to incite a suicide is a left or right thing.

rush knows better and that's what makes it so heinous. He's just digging for scraps to fill air time and he doesn't care that he is interrupting a national wake to do it. his desire to be involved in every conversation trumps his ability to stop dumb **** from coming out of his mouth.

This was posted on FB by a friend of mine. I could not have said it better. My Father committed suicide when I was an infant. It is tragic and sad and I hate the fact that I didn't get to know him but I don't blame him or think he was a coward. He was someone who was sick and didn't know how to get help. Hopefully 50 years later help is more available and accessible. Peace to Robin Williams and all of those struggling.

At the risk of over posting, why are people being so vile about suicide in the wake of Robin Williams' death? Calling those who take their own lives selfish and cowardly? I can't imagine the depths one must reach to get to the point of actually taking one's life. I hope never to know what that is like. But I have to believe that for someone to take their life, they have come to the conclusion that there is no alternative. They have reached a point they feel they can no longer go on. And it doesn't matter why. What does matter is that it is sad and tragic, and, yes, those who are left behind will mourn. And we may never understand. And we may always wonder if we couldn't have done more to help. But in the end, hopefully there is peace and forgiveness and love. So let's not judge. Let's be compassionate. Let's be grateful for every moment we have with our loved ones. And let's hope we never feel that our only option is to take our own life.

I think an unwillingness to empathize is pretty damn selfish too... the ole my way of highway mentality. The greater a person feels the better the art he produces. As has been pointed out, so many great artists have been the tortured souls...

A lack of understanding here makes the discussion pointless..

Comprehend words?
 

I missed the request I made to be a pretty snowflake or the part where I might have been whining. Guess you are as obtuse as you have portrayed herein. Empathy is not whining; ones lack of empathy can underscore in the intelligent anyway, a certain arrogance or selfishness. In the less intelligent, likely a by-product of lower levels of awareness. Where do you fit?

Have you any idea in Robin's case, how long he fought the drive to commit suicide? If indeed it was a daily, or weekly thing throughout his life, I'd say he fought well and hard.... Knowing a friend who has suceeded in this battle makes you not an expert on all such battles. I think you probably know that...

That puzzles me to. I seems the selfish ones are those who want a person who lives with great emotional pain to stay around to entertain them regardless of his pain.

Imagine if you had a friend who was really smart. So smart that during any argument or intellectual discussion you would have no hope of winning the argument.

Now imagine that friend gets sick and his powerful brain turns on him.
That person wouldn't stand a chance.

I have no idea really, but I imagine that depression and suicide are probably like that.
Something in the brain has gone haywire. Why else would an intelligent person with a survival instinct genetically built it, decide not to survive?

I just can't understand this sort of action otherwise.