There is so much to learn from a beautiful man like Robin Williams. We learn nothing about him or ourselves from the news and details of "how" he chose to end his life. Those details are not important, they are the devastating choices he made to end his life. Let's not let those details be his defining moment. His family and all those close to him would want him remembered for the full experience of life that he offered all of us.
Robin Williams Lived the Fullness of Life All the Way Out the Extremes
Robin taught us all to be wild, free and childlike again. So much of his acting was comedic and incredibly playful appealing to the child in all of us. He was able to embody the innocence and madness of a child at play in an exciting game of life. He reminded all of us of that same innocence within our own hearts and to never lose touch that childlike essence by becoming or being too serious.
Robin taught us that adult laughter and comedy were healing. He could, just by being him, make any topic, dark or light, somehow hysterically funny. We were all enamored with him because he reminded us to see the humor. Humor is an incredible way to cope when we are feeling down.
Robin taught us of vulnerability and depth. So many of his roles were touching upon the deepest pains of being human. He was able to reach into our hearts with his roles in Patch Adams, Mrs Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, and What Dreams May Come. He was able to feel these vulnerabilities so deeply in his own heart that when it came to putting them into his craft, he was able to reach into and touch our own fears and vulnerabilities making us feel normal in our own humanity.
Robin was able to inspire us. In Dead Poets Society, Aladdin, Good Morning Vietnam, he taught us that life was extraordinary and made up of a series of choices. Life may be painful and hard but it was meant to be lived to its depth. He inspired us to never give up on our dreams, to never give up on what was important to us.
Robin was able to teach us kindness and humility. He possessed a gentleness in his eyes which was truly him. There was almost a shy quality to him that he covered up through his ability to make us laugh. He was also able to let us feel comfortable enough to cry, to receive kindness and give kindness to others. His sensitivities are what made him so in touch with his emotions and it is those sensitivities which were his gift and which were possibly so intense to live with each day that he could no longer tolerate them.
Robin taught us about sadness and loss and most importantly the necessity for Self-love. In the loss of Robin Williams he is teaching us now about sadness and loss. He is teaching us about tragedy and not having enough self-love no matter how many loved him, to find going on in life to be a viable option. In his death he is teaching us we need to love ourselves. We need to make sure that we have an internal anchor within that is not dependent upon outside sources of love and attention. He is teaching us that we need an internal place of strength of self-love to come from and return to when life gets dark.
I thank you Robin Williams, for perhaps, the last lesson is the most profound. Make God laugh.