Robin Williams. Unless you live under a rock, you know he committed suicide a few days ago; we don't know why, aside from the usual guesses based on his clearly manic approach to comedy. I'm not going to hazard a guess here either; it's not my place.
What I do need to say here is just how great this loss is to me personally, and to the world as a whole. He was one of those rare creatures in this world; a man who found success at an early age, yet managed to grow up and still give a damn. The world is a lesser place without him; and I mourn his loss for myself and this world the same as I did John Lennon; in a way, for me this returns full circle, and not in a good way.
Robin was one of my childhood heroes; he taught me that is was okay to be weird. He taught me how to vent my frustration with the crazy world around me with humor, and he taught me it was okay to be a guy and still care about... stuff. And People. And people. He taught me that I could be a real man and still let the hatred of others roll off my back without giving up the ability to love.
From his start on broadcast TV, to his later explosion in movies, then to all his activism and periodically disappearing from public view and returning... I knew it had to be hard being him. But Just knowing that he was out there... doing his thing, his way... if he could make it, then I could too.
Now I'm not so sure... I don't know how to process the fact that the man who showed me that there was a place in this world even for me; after all these years he couldn't find his own place, surrounded by people who loved him, in a world full of people like myself who loved him.
With a sad smile it occurs to me...
How very Garp.
I know he would understand; he was all about the irony.
mnem
"...though some have changed;
Some forever not for better,
Some have gone and some remain."