Robin McLaurin Williams touched many people throughout his sixty-three years of living. He is an truly and honestly an American Hero. People may not admit it or genuinely think about it since he does not come in the form of Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Junior or someone that is majorly influential in our American history. He's not heard of in our history classes or recognized as an American Hero yet he is, though not in the traditional way that you would think, he touched people emotionally, he touched them through the movie screens and during interviews or brief meetings.
Throughout his childhood he was often bullied for being overweight which started a cause and effect stone rolling down the hill. Since he was bullied and shunned he spent most of his time alone and he had to find some way to entertain himself. (Strauss, 2014) It led to him making up characters and using different voices for them which he discovered as a part of him that he kept all the way through adulthood and used in his comedy acts, in his shows, and in his movies. Even just meeting him was fraught with his frivolous and joyful voices and him turning into different charcters. He was Genie in "Aladdin", he was Batty in "Ferngully", he touched kids lives through animated, less serious works and made them fall in love with him, and he was in more serious movies like "Good Will Hunting" which appealed to a more serious and older audience. Alyssa Rosenberg says in one of her articles from The Washington Post. " I know thar Williams was the actor who taught me that adults were not invincible. Sometimes, as in "Dead Poets Society," they went up forces bigger then they were and lost. But more often, they battles their own weaknesses and came to honorable compromises. That is a hard lesson to learn, but an important one. Williams conveyed it Beautifully."
All American Hero's go through some struggle, and if there is a hero that hasn't then please, tell me who they are. Robin Williams was no exception for the struggle, though his villain wasn't someone he could easily defeat, it wasn't some supernatural creation or a mortal enemy who wanted to ultimately destroy him; no, his enemy, his struggle was entirely human and happens to more people than we realize. His struggle was alcoholism and substance abuse. You would never guess that the dear and beloved Robin would be someone to go to these kinds of depressants but alas, he did. He talks about them in many, many interviews with poeple, saying how he went through that, how he's been to rehab, how he's relapsed but is back on the right track. His enemy was entirely mortal, and like all hero's, he overcame them. Robin struggled with the abuse in the early 1980's with alcoholism and cocaine but after his dear friend John Belushi's overdose in 1982 he quit cold turkey. (Sawyer, Diane, 2006) Robin speaks in an interview with Diane sawyer about how it affected him and others. (Robin Williams, 2006) "It's [addiction]-- not caused by anything, it's just there," "It waits. It lays in wait for the next time you think, 'It's fine now, I'm OK.' Then the next thing you know, it's not OK. Then you realize, 'Where am I? I didn't realize I was in Cleveland." He said that admitting you have the problem is the hardest part but once you acknowledge it you can move forward and start to recover from it.
Though he ended up committing suicide on August 11, 2014 he stayed strong. Not many knew of his deep depression or his anxiety. He powered through it for his fans, he powered through it for his family and in the end no one can truly know why he committed suicide. Whether is was just that it was too much for him or if it was because he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and didn't want to see himself or let others live to see him grow weak and lose function of his body or his words, he remained a hero till the end and he will stay a hero in my eyes. Personally Flubber is one of my favorite movies, I love how he ends up loving the little gel creature that he makes, I love the childishness in it, I love how it is so cheesy looking back at it years from when I was young but still enjoying the same things that I loved as a child, including Williams' character.
He hung himself in his basement and was found with lacerations on his wrists but he ended up staying strong, there was no illegal drugs in his system nor traces of alcohol so we know that he was in his right mind, and by right mind I mean not hindered by depressants. I can understand to a degree what Robin was going through, the depression part. Depression rules over you, it's like when he talked about addiction, depression is a certain kind of addiction that lays in wait, it's your shadow and it haunts you everywhere you go. It may seem like you are having fun, like you will be alright when you're with friends, or doing something you enjoy but then it comes back and you realize that everything you do; every little thing you do is just a temporary distraction. It's no good to try and escape from it anymore because it will always come back in tenfold. It is something that I am struggling with, and I have been since I was the age of 5, i just didn't have a name for it at that time. I was a naive child, though I'm unfortunately not naive anymore. I can understand what he went through to an extent and I am glad that he found a way to end it for himself. Am I glad that he killed himself? No I am not, I am glad that he isn't in pain anymore. I respect him as much as I can and he will live inside my heart forever.
He touched lives and changed them, he influenced as many people in the short amount of time without even knowing them and his legacy will stay with him as he continues to influence adults and kids even through his death. The vikings were Pagan but they believed that the way you survived on, a form of afterlife was through their legacy. You had to do something great, something impressive, something big to have people remember you forever, or for quite some time at least and Robin Williams has definitely accomplished that and more. He is ingrained in many peoples memories and he is written in history, people will not easily forget this American Hero and they will continue his legacy by showing their kids and their grandkids. Forever you will be remembered Robin, I hope that wherever you are, you are happy. Your legacy will stay written in stone, and your fans will continue to support you even through death. Though you are dead, you live on in every one of us. Goodbye Robin McLaurin Williams, forever you will be in our hearts.
Citations
1. Strauss, Valerie (August 11, 2014). "How high school changed Robin Williams' life". The Washington Post
2. Rosenberg, Alyssa (August 11, 2014). "How Robin Williams helped us grow up". Washington Post
3. "Robin Williams Comes Clean on 'GMA' ". ABC News. October 2, 2006.
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