Rest Well Robin, Rest Well

Last Monday we learned some horrible news. Robin Williams, the guy who made us laugh until we cried and was a shoe in for the part of Peter Pan in "Hook" because he dared to never grow up, had committed suicide. I have wrestled with this all week because he was my favorite comedian but you could see his true heart in the drama's he was a part of as well, such as "Patch Adams" and "Good Will Hunting," for which he won an Oscar. I think my favorite was "Hook," because of two things. He had to remember who he was, and a lot of us as Christians, well, sometimes we forget who we are, and Whose we are? The other, was that it was being a father that was his "happy thawt" which gave him the ability to fly again and defeat the evil Captain Hook!

In an ABC video (shown below), it is revealed that Williams was struggling with the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, and in part of the video it is discussed how it can create clinical depression. Parkinson's robs the ability of the brain to create dopamine which is the feel good hormone. For someone who had already struggled with depression for years, this could be devastating and while some called him a "coward," "addict," etc., they should be ashamed. They didn't have the whole picture when they passed judgment on someone they had never met! That isn't fair, so along with the Christian Post, let's set the record straight!

This is an except taken from TheChristianPost: "Williams publicly identified with the Episcopal Church, and religion was an important part of his childhood. However, he stated in 2007 that after coming out of rehab his relationship with God awakened beyond ritual and came back to life for him. He spoke of his appreciation for an open compassionate church with outreach programs and counseling. Compassion was a powerful force in his life. Robin Williams was a patriot, a believer in God and Country! He was a man with a purpose for living, one motivated to live from production to production, bettering himself through the years, a man who lived for his beliefs and who lived for us. This was indeed a man who lived, as Pastor Rick Warren might say, "a purpose driven life." Williams believed in America and that for which she stood. Like Christ, he did not believe in war, but he believed in the men and women in uniform who gave their lives for us and sacrificed his work and time to lift their spirits. Williams indeed had a reason to live and had no desire to end his life, and, so far as his family and I are concerned, didn't."

We cannot know a man's heart, and I was appalled as was the writer I quoted above that so many came out and called Robin Williams names because he couldn't handle the disease we didn't even know he'd been diagnosed with until last night. People need to have all the facts before they go passing judgment. There's a scripture, which came from the mouth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself: "Do not judge others, lest ye be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:2-3). 

Williams gave a lot of money to Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Foundation over the years, long before his own diagnosis. He knew what would happen to him. Perhaps he was trying to save his wife and children the pain of watching him waste away? That's exactly how my grandfather went. It's very debilitating & then you're just gone. The Robin Williams I knew? I didn't think it was even possible, but this new revelation? Well, now it all makes a lot more sense.

This is a clip from the movie "Hook," where Peter finds his happy thought. It was his children. He holds onto that thought, and is able to fly. If for any other reason, he may have taken his life so that others wouldn't feel sorry for him or as my grandfather did, watch him waste away with the progression of the disease. But there is one thing for sure. He was a great talent! Now, he is in heaven to entertain God. 

Thank you Robin for giving so much of your time to the USO and our men and women overseas. You were so selfless, and so full of humility at times you were like a totally different person. The parts you played, compared to the kind loving and compassionate man you were? Well, who could ever replace you? You were irreplaceable. God made only one Robin Williams. May He who watches over us all, welcome you into His Kingdom where you will find His open and loving arms waiting for you. Godspeed Robin Williams. Rest well Robin, rest well.