Skip to main content

The light and dark of Robin Williams






How lucky we were to have Robin Williams in our lives.

My generation fell in love with him as Mork. Then our kids fell hard for Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire.

Robin Williams was lucky, too,  to be able to live his life as a creative tour de force, to put his joy out into the world like a boomerang.

Joy begets joy. That's the beauty of creativity.

It's one of the greatest gifts a person can be given by God, if you believe in God. It's also a tremendous curse for many, people like Robin whose art came from inner pain.

We couldn't see it, but it was there. He talked about it, tried to rehab it.

It just wouldn't go away, the pain.

It is the devil's pain.

The devil waits, he is the patient sort, standing in the shadows at the AA meetings, and hiding in the closet in the dark. And it hides in the bottom of the bottle of Glenfiddick, just sitting there all warm and cosy.

It is a fortunate man who can escape the demon. Robin nearly escaped him. At least he kept him at bay for twenty years. But in the end, for people like Robin, the devil holds all the cards.

Sometimes the only option to escape the demon is suicide.

Those who have never felt the demon touch their hearts simply cannot understand it.

What a waste, they say. He had everything.

They cannot feel his pain through their own selfishness.

The clown has left the circus and he hasn't even finished the show. We want our money back.

How could he do this to us?

The good news is the demon never wins, not really.

We don't have Robin Williams' body, but we have his body of work.

He will always be up there on the screen making us laugh. That's why he's lucky. He's immortal, isn't he? In Patch and Armand, in Perry and of course, little Mork, the hairy alien.

Robin wasn't here in the world for himself; he was here for us.

God gave Robin to the world, and now he's taken him back.

Some people say his like will never come again.

I don't believe it.

He will resurface, our little Garp.

Just when you thought all was lost.




 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ashley Simpson: Don't Let Her Die in Vain

  Six years ago, I was combing through my Facebook and I saw post from my cousin Julie Major. Her brother and his wife were frantically looking for their daughter Ashley who just days before had Facetimed her mom saying she was planning to return to her home in Niagara. Ashley never made it home. She was murdered in cold blood in her home in Salmon Arm then buried in a nearby field. It would be five and a half years before her body was located, and her boyfriend was charged with second degree murder.  Today, Ashley's urn has a sacred spot in her parents' home, and Derek Favell is in jail awaiting trial by judge and jury. The trial is expected to go into next year sometime. This has been an agonizing journey for Ashley's friends and family. The pain has never stopped, and the wounds are broken open every time the family has to sit through a series of pre-trial proceedings. Fortunately, this ordeal will end but the pain will never wane for the people, including me, who have b...

Ashley Simpson: A Father Remembers

I have asked Ashley Simpson's family and friends to give us a glimpse into the life she lived before going missing nearly a month ago. Here is how her father John remembers his sweet girl. Ashley was a treat when she came into this world, a smashing 9lbs 8 ounces with a  head full of hair and nails that needed to be clipped. She has made many friends in her journey of life and continues to make them as we speak. She has made this world a better place by her love of mankind and this place we call Earth; unfortunately this life she has lived hasn't been the best for her. She has suffered through unbearable pain and suffering through her menstrual cycles. She has cysts on her ovaries that make those 10 days a living hell. She had one of her ovaries removed when she was just 14; the other they won't take out till she is 40 or older. Years of hell for my Ashley. I so feel her pain every month but she doesn't quit, doesn't give in.   That'...

What Bell isn't telling you about Fibe TV

Update: This week, we switched back to Rogers after spending far too long using Bell's crappy television service. For those with Bell, read and weep. For those considering Bell, think twice even if you hate Rogers. RS I've always been an early technology adapter. I had a Betamax. That tells you everything (if you're over 50 at least). My first computer was a "Portable". It weighed 40 pounds and I had to lug it around town on a gurney. I've been through probably 15 computers in my lifetime. Apple is the best. It's also too expensive so I have a piece of shit HP, the one I'm writing this blog on. I've had cable, internet and now Netflix. American Netflix . That's how far ahead of the curve I am. I get all the newspapers for free. How? I disabled my cookies so they can't track me when I'm on the newspaper sites. Even the New York Times hasn't cottoned on to that trick. Hahaha. That will be a fifty buck consulting fee. Bein...