What an Amazing Human.
Maybe the most amazing.
“Why did he kill himself?”
“He was sad.”
That was my answer to my 10 year old son as we watched clips of Jumanji, Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladin…..
Maybe suicide is so hard to understand because we’re used to death being the body failing, taking the mind with it. Is that why someone’s mental illness is so hard for us to empathize with?
Here’s a fellow human who’s profession is in making us smile. And he’s so good at it, not only has he impacted the world in the work he’s done (his movies are responsible for $5 billion worldwide), he’s connected with 3 generations of humans — me, my parents and my children.
Yet, here he is posting pictures to Instagram, continuing to work hard at his profession — working hard for us — all the while having his own joy ravaged like cancer taking over the body and people are expressing surprise to see his mind collapse. Had his problems been physical, might we wonder how the profession of human health may have approached and solved his illness?
I’m sorry Robin. Sorry to you and to those who knew you a lot better than I for the pain that must be immeasurable in trying to understand how this happened. Sorry that we as a society, who by the design of the human species needs a mind as healthy as a body — are so unbalanced.
You made us smile. You provided the single most important thing the mind needs and we failed to save you when we could have. You’re an amazing human being.
As it’s been said that poetry allows us to accept death, perhaps the tragic poetry of someone so deeply genuine and selflessly committed to his fellow humans has perhaps showed us how truly vulnerable we all are.
Something good will come of this. You don’t lift that many cheeks and the world goes unaltered. Thank you for your sacrifice.
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