Saying Goodbye to a treasured friend.
It’s hard to say goodbye sometimes, especially to someone that had such a big part of your life. Last month I said goodbye to my friend and writing mentor CJ Henderson after a long battle with cancer. He meant a lot to me personally and as a writer and he’s a big reason I am writing this right now.
Tonight though I, like a lot of other people around the world, had to say goodbye to someone a number of us never got to know in person but had a large impact on our lives. The news was sudden, surprising, and devastating. We lost Robin Williams.
We’ve all seen him in some way since he shot to the spotlight back in the late 70’s. Be it either his TV work, his movies, or his voice acting work. We all have some encounter with his comic genius and energetic style. As a man in his 30’s I saw a lot of everything he did. I watched Comic Relief back in the day, I saw repeats of Mork And Mindy on Nick @ Nite, I watched his cable specials. I watched a lot of his movies, be it comedy, serious, or animated. When someone has the depth of work he had over nearly 40 years you have experienced at least some of his talent in your life time.
His battles also were well known. He fought the demons of drugs as well as depression. He fought them long and hard and did his best to make sure others didn’t have to fight the demons like he did. Tonight the fight is over and he gets to rest.
But as his wife said, we shouldn’t dwell on how things ended, we should remember all Robin did for us. All the good memories that he gave us and the wonderful experiences he provided us over the years. Robin Williams shouldn’t be remembered as a cautionary tale, although if the story of his struggles can save even one person with dealing with their own demons and battles than it was worth telling. Robin should be remembered for everything he did give us and all the wonderful times he provided for us that we all can remember for the rest of our own time on this Earth.
Whatever way you do it, take a moment tonight to remember something positive that Robin provided for you and smile. Somehow I think that would have put a smile on his face as well.
RT Gomer Productions 