Robin Williams Was a Genius – There, I Said It!

I was driving home today when I got call from the radio station telling me Robin Williams had died. My first thought, I don't know why, was suicide. The brilliant ones among us always seem to carry such internal pain: Van Gogh, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Belushi, Hoffman, and now Robin Williams.

Most of the articles I've seen about him list him as a comedian. And while I certainly found him to be one of the funniest people in the entertainment world, it's actually his dramatic roles that I remember most. Dead Poets Society is still one of my favorite movies, as is Awakenings where he played a doctor alongside Robert De Niro. He won an Oscar not for a comedy, but for his role in Good Will Hunting. Yes, he was funny, but he also had depth. Which, I think, made him even funnier. It also endeared him to nearly everyone.

I never met Robin Williams but his genius made me feel a connection to him. It's obvious I'm not the only one, as almost every Facebook post tonight is about him. In fact, it seems that there's actually more being written about him tonight on Facebook than when Micheal Jackson died. Maybe not, but it sure seems like it.

He must have been feeling a lot of pain, if, indeed, he did die by suicide. Last month he checked himself into rehab after battling the bottle for many years. They said he was doing it to stay on top of his sobriety. Perhaps he knew then what he was capable of doing.

Entertainers and actors are not perfect. In fact, they perhaps are even more flawed than most. But I think maybe it is in their flaws where the brilliance they possess grows and blossoms. Without those (often fatal) flaws they could not do what they do so brilliantly. No Robin Williams didn't cure cancer or contribute to science, but he did make us laugh and cry; he made us feel. And that is something special; that is contributing to the greater good.

Robin Williams was one of the most gifted and talented human beings to ever walk the planet. And as a friend on Facebook said in her post: I don't think the world will be as fun without him. I agree.

Robin Williams we will miss you, and that's saying a lot, because we didn't even know you.