The following was originally posted on ourworld.katbox.net.
As I am uploading this, it is still less than six hours since I
learned of the death of Robin Williams, who died earlier today of what
the news is saying is an apparent suicide. It's very hard for me to
accept that someone who's life's work was making other people laugh was
so eaten inside that he felt he had to do this. He leaves behind friends
and family and a magnificent body of work and a shaken world that never
thought it would end this way.
I know many
people who suffer from depression, and I suffer from it myself. I also
know that many people who do not suffer from depression conflate it with
ungratefulness - they perceive an inability to be happy as a person's
refusal to be happy. Without knowing the details of his life, I wonder
if this made it harder for Robin - to be so successful in so many ways
and still hurt inside.
If you or someone
you care for has depression, please be kind - to them and to yourself.
Depression is an illness, and people are not made lesser for having
illnesses. I believe that this will be a hard night for many of us, but
if there is a message to be taken from this event, let it be that we
must always let those around us know that they are loved.
