I knew Robin, not well, but certainly since anyone in Marin County CA knew his name. My four children all went to the same high school, Redwood, in Larkspur CA, of which Robin was a graduate. At every graduation, dating to 1982, when he was already a 'star' he did an appearance via audio with a personalized stand-up routine for the graduating class. It was off-color and not politik at times, but fortunately the administration let it fly and no speaker could equal his ability to reach out and touch his audience.
Robin loved this country, its people and its tradition. He never mocked patriotism. More importantly, he loved our troops and made untold visits to war zones in the Middle East and vets hospitals throughout the US.
He had demons. Demons arising from alcohol and drug abuse. These demons don't choose a political party and ensuing depression is the most horrible demon of all. Robin was clean for 20+ years, but not everyone stays clean.
Robin Williams' death by any means is a great loss for our country and young people everywhere. Trust me on this.
I’m glad to hear it. I know he did troop and hospital visits and such work speaks for itself. Nevertheless he was seriously liberal and did a lot of mocking of conservatives. You should check out some clips of, for one example, his mocking of Sarah Palin. And in any of his routines, conservatives were always a big target.
I will say this for him - he was the type of Democrat that used to be. I don’t think he would go back as far as a “Kennedy Democrat,” but even as late as the 70’s, Democrats still loved America and believed in actually taking part in the American process AS Americans, and doing the volunteer work and social work they believed would make this country better.
But Democrats have changed into socialists and communists and actual America-haters since then. And perhaps Robin didn’t change with them. He lived amongst them, but even among them he stood out for his work with vets and hospitals, all while he still supported the socialist paradigm that he watched turn so nasty over the years. That’s why I pointed out his humor got darker and darker as the years went on. And it could easily have been a big part of his depression.
I make no judgements on his drug or alcohol abuse. He recognized them as destructive and fought them and taught others to fight them. You can’t ask for more from a human being. And I certainly don’t judge his soul - I believe he was a genuinely kind, honest and loving person who lived as honestly as he knew how. I think that’s what made him so funny - yes, he had his hyper-hysterical technique, but what he focused on were things everyone could relate to as human beings. Nevertheless, he hung out with a lot of people who brought his spirit down, and I don’t think he knew how to separate the dreams from the lies. Perhaps it didn’t kill him directly, but I think it hurt him way more than he thought it would.
Thank you for posting that.
Excellent post.
If possible you should get that message out to the so damn many social media sites.
I honestly thought he was done with drugs.
Sadly, I appear to be wrong (we need to see what the coroner says).
thank you for that beautiful post. It was the best of tonight and you have honored Mr. Williams in the midst of a lot of tawdryness on this thread.