Farewell Mr. Williams

Death affects everyone in different ways. Some will publicly mourn, some will privately mourn, and some will avoid the mourning process altogether. The one thing that's constant is the feeling of loss. The emptiness that consumes you for however long you determine is fair to you. In saying this, when a celebrity dies, you feel the sadness and loss, but you don't usually have a direct personal tie to them. You are easily able to move on as crass as that sounds. But for some reason, I feel things will be different with the death of Robin Williams. Why? Because I have never in my life, nor now in comments and such heard anyone say they don't like him or his work. He managed to bring a smile to everyone's face at one point in their life. And that's huge.

There are some people speaking of how the priorities of our society are skewed, that we focus too much on Hollywood, and not enough on real life. And to this I agree. But to say that one's life is not as important as another's because he was famous, and therefore shouldn't be mourned as much or publicly, that is unfair. To me the reason it seems like Robin Williams is being given more publicity than say a veteran who has passed, is because the entire world is mourning, and we are all doing it at the same time. Yes a veteran should be mourned equally if not more, but not everyone is acquainted with that veteran and therefore the mourning isn't as loud. But it's not any less meaningful or important. Please don't misconstrue my words, because I am a huge supporter of the military, and I know that they are the true heroes. And yes there are a lot of other important things going on the world that deserve our attention as well. Horrible things actually. But I also think it's alright to take a minute and mourn someone who made you laugh, who took you out of this ugly world for a couple hours. There's nothing wrong with that.

I personally have dealt with a lot of death in my life. Way more than I think any person should have to deal with. And each death has brought me the feeling of loss and sadness. I typically don't feel the same about a celebrity. Sure I'm sad for a minute, I may shed a tear thinking of their families having to deal with the death, but then as they say, life goes on. But this time, I truly feel like there is a real loss in my life, that there is an emptiness. The world really did lose not only a very funny man, but a humanitarian. Someone whose soul was genuine, and for that we should mourn him. We should celebrate his life, and we should be sad. But as always, life does go on, and we will move forward. Just like with any other death. So I think it's perfectly okay to post what you want about Mr. Williams, and express your feelings. He deserves it as much as anyone else.

Now some are going to quip that he shouldn't be given a second thought because he took his own life. And to that I say that's your prerogative. We are all allowed to deal with the situation how we choose, but also reserve the right to disagree with how another chooses to deal. Personally for me, I think he was a very sad person internally, who was fighting a lot of demons, and ultimately felt he wasn't able to keep going. Was it selfish? Was it wrong? I'm not the one to decide this. What I do know is that he brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, and I think he will continue to do so posthumously, and that should be our focus.

As for suicide, that's a whole other subject, and a serious one at that of which I'm not qualified to go in depth on. I will just say if you or someone you know is contemplating taking their life, please talk to someone, or do what you can for that person and try your best to get them some help. Sometimes it's as simple as having someone to talk to, and sometimes it's far more complex. Be there for your people, and hug them tight. You really do never know when it will be the last time.

Rest in peace Mr. Williams, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me laugh not just once, but a million times. I'm going to be sad for a bit, and watch movies and mourn because that's what I feel I want to do. And there is no shame in that.