I might be out on a limb here Jack but you don't seem like a happy camper

Robin Williams is dead. Because he was well known this means something to everyone who knew the actor and comic. We didn’t really know him, we knew his work but what drove him is a mystery to most of us. It is a tragic end of a man’s life for his family however for the rest of the world is only a loss of what would have been or could have been not of who this person was but of his work. For most of us we still have the Robin Williams we love and it is really the same whether it be; the Fisher King, Professor Keating, Mork, Ms. Doubtfire, the stand up comic, the Centennial Man, Leslie Zevo or the many other characters brought to life by a vibrant actor. We have the Robin Williams we knew and can have him back on Prime, or the Flix or any station that is showing something of his body of work. He is gone for those closest to him never to come back. We the many mourn his death but we have not lost anything. The muses, Thalia and Melpomene, Comedy and Tragedy, The two faces for Theatre or acting you can’t have one without the other. It seems too that with great comedic actors there is a darkness that envelopes their lives, that the Yin and Yang life is that suffering is necessary to understand joy and to truly know loss you must first know joy. The work I do many people develop what is referred to as gallows humor. What we see isn’t enjoyable but is rather very tragic. To help others you can not allow yourself to carry the weight and be mired down by emotion so you find the humor in what is tragic. Eventually it becomes too much for many and they leave the work. What a weight Mr. Williams must have carried. Suicides impact our lives in a way that many other deaths do not. The “what” that killed the person is the person we mourn. There is no murderer unless you call the person a murderer which is what a suicide is, a self murder. We don’t want to think about the lost person in that light but we do on some level so we get angry at the person because we don’t understand why they did this to themselves and we say it is selfish. It isn’t like cancer or an accident where the illness is to blame or just happenstance is the culprit. In those times we assuage our feelings of loss in consoling words like, “it was their time” or “it was meant to be”. However our theologies tell us that suicide is an unforgivable sin, a hell worthy trespass so the solace of faith doesn’t always help us understand why this person has left us. I don’t know what demons Mr. Williams wrestled with, nor do I know the tragedy he saw in the world to allow him such a gift in bringing joy to others but not enough for himself. Whatever his reasons to leave this life behind are his and his alone. The loss is not ours or even the worlds but his family and his friends. That does not mean it isn’t sad for the rest of us who appreciated his work and were given moments of joy. To me his best works were his dramatic roles and not the comedic ones I always found them to be somewhat manic at times. And I wondered then as now was Robin leaking through all this time and we were all too busy laughing to see the burden on his shoulders. I don’t know. My prayers are for his family, for them he is gone and that they may find peace and understanding in his departure from their lives. The title today is a line from the film The Fisher King. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015