Sadly, the world has lost a great comedian. Robin Williams was found dead in his Northern California home of an apparent suicide. It has been reported by multiple sources that he has been depressed recently. Robin Williams was the comedian of a generation. He was a doctor, a genie, and a hero. We looked to him to make us laugh and remember our childhoods and he will be sorely missed by all.
This death does raise a different issue, though. If a man such as Robin Williams, who has the public face of being the funniest man on earth could be seriously depressed, what about the people in our own lives? I believe that we, as a society, can take this tragedy of a life not finished and learn from it. We should learn to recognize the signs of depression. I do not pretend to know the extent of Williams’ condition. But I do know that we live in an age where people are more likely to ask you how you are on your Facebook timeline than to actually pick up the phone. Where people are complaining about the Facebook messenger app and how you should just text them, as though texting someone is so difficult to begin with. We are so connected but with that connection we have become even more isolated. We seem to know everything about everyone’s lives but, in reality, we don’t take the time to call people anymore and see how they are doing. Hopefully we can take the time out of our days and think about the people in our lives, call them, have coffee, and see how they are doing. We don’t need to be living in a connected solitary world.
