Flaming Star

It seems the brilliant actor and comedian Robin Williams met his flaming star earlier than we thought he would. His death hits close to home for me, because I had a youngest sister who battled manic depression and addiction and who committed suicide by asphyxia , that is hanging, just like Robin Williams did. He was 63, she was only 35. The media is going on and on now as they will for a week or so, and then they will never talk about Robin Williams death again. Right now, they are treating it like a wildfire, all hands on deck. It is both exhausting and disrespectful. Depression is a serious illness, with devastating effects for those afflicted and all those around them. My sister's death destroyed whatever thin threads were holding my parents' marriage together. I still have haunting dreams at times about my sister and my inability to protect her. Death is devastating enough, but when brilliant people like Robin Williams take their own life, it is baffling and very disheartening. He was a genius, who had so much love and passion in his heart and soul, it seemed he would never really get old or die. His family, his children must be devastated. I kept thinking of the song that Elvis Presley made so famous, " Flaming Star ", a song that seems to fit the restless genius that the world knew as Robin Williams. "Flaming star, don't shine on me, ... keep behind me, flaming star,keep behind me, flaming star,...One day, I'll see that flaming star,over my shoulder And when I see, that old flaming star, I'll know my time has come...". Robin Williams'fire burned so bright, his flaming star caught up with him ,it seems. That is sad, for sure, but at the same time, he lived his passions to the fullest. The French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote : " Il faut toujours etre ivre ", " One must always be intoxicated ", meaning specifically that one must be intoxicated with life. True, Baudelaire had his issues with drug and alcohol addiction, and Robin Williams too battled addiction in a very honest and brave way, but brilliant people often are also very much intoxicated with life and the passion of being alive, so much so that it can burn their resources and energies to the ground. It seems to be the price of being a genius, that their own talents and uniqueness can overtake them faster than their hearts can run. They seem to be the mystery they themselves in the end cannot comprehend or contain. It is heartbreaking, for sure. We should celebrate the flaming stars among us, because we never know how long they will be among us, and when they do take off, like rockets into that void, we should remember the joy and amazing energy they brought us, and we should also cry. The media has no problem overdosing on the joy and talent that Robin Williams brought millions of people. They just have a hard time accepting the sadness, yes, the tragedy of his death. But we should embrace both the joy and the sadness, because life at its deepest, most outrageous, most amazing, most infuriating, most awesome, is both. Robin Williams would agree with that wholeheartedly. He would want us to laugh, and cry, and watch that flaming star of his streak across the sky one last time.