O' Captain My Captain ---on The Death Of Robin Williams
Without Prejudice
It is with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart I write this today. Robin Williams that funny funny man has died, aged just 62. By his own hand they say. Severe depression.
"O' Captain My Captain "
I will never forget The Dead Poets Society movie, where at the end the boy pupils literally stand up for their teacher, ( Robin Williams character ) and in defiance and showed support utter the words from the great poem by Walt Whitman,
" Ø' Captain, My Captain,
A poem written by Whitman on the death of Abraham Lincoln.
What men these are, Lincoln, Whitman, Williams to have touched so many lives in honour and comedy and truth. The scene of the boys standing in honour of their Teacher remains one of my favourite scenes in a movie, of all time.
And I am so hurt by another senseless needless death. Severe depression they say. The comic hiding the tragedy he must have felt. Such is the life force in all of us that something very awful has to happen for us to give up on this comic tragedy we call life.
Survival our strongest instinct. Beats sex, food, drugs, alcohol. This thing, our will to survive, our life force that plugs us into the almighty creation, we call life. Robin's failed him. A scrambled impulse of the brain, it literally comes in a second and for most goes. But not the injured. The brain injured. The heart sick, the tired, those outside of the box.
He fought many demons over decades, never shirking the reality of them, but having them just the same. The dropping off, dropping out, the guilt, the shame, the dirtiness of the addict.
"Stuck In A Moment " as Bono said of Michael Hutchence.
It seems they want to burn out, burn down, strike out at the World by hurting themselves. Most addicts will tell you the drug of choice is always alcohol, it lies at the base of most addictions. And yet it remains the most easily accessible. It breaks up every relationship, we were told that years ago by our Doctor. Junkies unbelievably stick together and all alcoholic relationships bust up.
I wonder what it is in us that can be so self destructive ?
Are we that ready to deny all that is good in us, our bravery, our goodwill, our spirit, to a drink ?
There was a program on the BBC years ago, where they did a study of drugs and alcohol. If you took heroin, pure heroin, for 80 years it would do no damage to any organ of the body. If you drank, however, alcohol for 80 years it would damage every organ of the body. And that seems unbelievable
But it's fact. What kills a junkie is the lifestyle they are forced to live. Dirty needles, street drugs often mixed with other substances, dubious dealers who might just kill you.
I knew of a girl who said she had a moment of awakening one night when she realised that she was in a dirty skanky room, somewhere, with people she didn't know and didn't trust. And it was almost like she was outside her body looking on and thought,
" I would never associate with these type of people if I wasn't on Heroin" , she had kids, an addictive partner. She stopped, years later I caught up with her. The partner had died, never having being able to withdraw. She had a new partner, a new life, a decent great life, new babies, older kids at University. And she said that moment of being outside of her body was " Her Rock Bottom " she never went back to it.
Of course there are always the ones that never kick the habit, the ones that fall off the edge of the world, one addict refusing AA twelve steps or N.A as it's called these days, stating,
" My Higher Power? Man, there is no higher power than heroin "
An alcoholic is trying to kill himself. Alcohol being ultimately a depressant. Robin was in severe depression it's said. He was in rehab just last month. Too soon ? Maybe. The monkey on his back dragged him off in the end, and it is a lesser world for it. So many, so young, so talented. Corey Monteith, Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, beautiful people addicted in an ugly way.
Apparently it is inherent in all of us as human beings to occasionally " get off our faces " to somehow feel that for a moment, an instant in time, we are controlling our environment. That we tap into " our higher power ", that we want to feel omnipotent. And we do that with drugs, alcohol, gambling, food and cheating, irresponsible and often childish. But we do it.
What is the saying?
Every man has a fatal flaw. An Achilles heel. Big Businessmen can become "Too Big " their waistlines disappearing along with their morals. Suddenly they are chasing women, yelling at employees, becoming used to getting what they want, surrounded by people that "Yes" them all the time.
And feel that even though they might be border line Sociopathic they are right in everything they do. " there is no bigger addiction than Power. It's seductive, it's an aphrodisiac, a mistress that must be served."
Depends on the individual of course, and the Big Businessman can seem like a cliche but what is a cliche other than a familiar scenario. The red faced fat boss with a big cigar yelling at people and humiliating them. Because he can ! Loading his large girth into a car with a price tag that could support a small nation.
Alas, Captain, my Captain, men usually know how " prick" like they can be. They don't want to be, they just are. They know they will disappoint their daughters, all their lives. Maybe it goes back to our cave man ancestors, men had to be warriors, fighting off the wooly mammoths and other males for supremacy.
I don't know. I just know today I am saddened by the death of a funny, funny man. A talented man, gone too soon. Who leaves his wife a widow, his children without a father and that's sad because of his " demons " bloody shame.
It is with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart I write this today. Robin Williams that funny funny man has died, aged just 62. By his own hand they say. Severe depression.
"O' Captain My Captain "
I will never forget The Dead Poets Society movie, where at the end the boy pupils literally stand up for their teacher, ( Robin Williams character ) and in defiance and showed support utter the words from the great poem by Walt Whitman,
" Ø' Captain, My Captain,
A poem written by Whitman on the death of Abraham Lincoln.
What men these are, Lincoln, Whitman, Williams to have touched so many lives in honour and comedy and truth. The scene of the boys standing in honour of their Teacher remains one of my favourite scenes in a movie, of all time.
And I am so hurt by another senseless needless death. Severe depression they say. The comic hiding the tragedy he must have felt. Such is the life force in all of us that something very awful has to happen for us to give up on this comic tragedy we call life.
Survival our strongest instinct. Beats sex, food, drugs, alcohol. This thing, our will to survive, our life force that plugs us into the almighty creation, we call life. Robin's failed him. A scrambled impulse of the brain, it literally comes in a second and for most goes. But not the injured. The brain injured. The heart sick, the tired, those outside of the box.
He fought many demons over decades, never shirking the reality of them, but having them just the same. The dropping off, dropping out, the guilt, the shame, the dirtiness of the addict.
"Stuck In A Moment " as Bono said of Michael Hutchence.
It seems they want to burn out, burn down, strike out at the World by hurting themselves. Most addicts will tell you the drug of choice is always alcohol, it lies at the base of most addictions. And yet it remains the most easily accessible. It breaks up every relationship, we were told that years ago by our Doctor. Junkies unbelievably stick together and all alcoholic relationships bust up.
I wonder what it is in us that can be so self destructive ?
Are we that ready to deny all that is good in us, our bravery, our goodwill, our spirit, to a drink ?
There was a program on the BBC years ago, where they did a study of drugs and alcohol. If you took heroin, pure heroin, for 80 years it would do no damage to any organ of the body. If you drank, however, alcohol for 80 years it would damage every organ of the body. And that seems unbelievable
But it's fact. What kills a junkie is the lifestyle they are forced to live. Dirty needles, street drugs often mixed with other substances, dubious dealers who might just kill you.
I knew of a girl who said she had a moment of awakening one night when she realised that she was in a dirty skanky room, somewhere, with people she didn't know and didn't trust. And it was almost like she was outside her body looking on and thought,
" I would never associate with these type of people if I wasn't on Heroin" , she had kids, an addictive partner. She stopped, years later I caught up with her. The partner had died, never having being able to withdraw. She had a new partner, a new life, a decent great life, new babies, older kids at University. And she said that moment of being outside of her body was " Her Rock Bottom " she never went back to it.
Of course there are always the ones that never kick the habit, the ones that fall off the edge of the world, one addict refusing AA twelve steps or N.A as it's called these days, stating,
" My Higher Power? Man, there is no higher power than heroin "
An alcoholic is trying to kill himself. Alcohol being ultimately a depressant. Robin was in severe depression it's said. He was in rehab just last month. Too soon ? Maybe. The monkey on his back dragged him off in the end, and it is a lesser world for it. So many, so young, so talented. Corey Monteith, Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, beautiful people addicted in an ugly way.
Apparently it is inherent in all of us as human beings to occasionally " get off our faces " to somehow feel that for a moment, an instant in time, we are controlling our environment. That we tap into " our higher power ", that we want to feel omnipotent. And we do that with drugs, alcohol, gambling, food and cheating, irresponsible and often childish. But we do it.
What is the saying?
Every man has a fatal flaw. An Achilles heel. Big Businessmen can become "Too Big " their waistlines disappearing along with their morals. Suddenly they are chasing women, yelling at employees, becoming used to getting what they want, surrounded by people that "Yes" them all the time.
And feel that even though they might be border line Sociopathic they are right in everything they do. " there is no bigger addiction than Power. It's seductive, it's an aphrodisiac, a mistress that must be served."
Depends on the individual of course, and the Big Businessman can seem like a cliche but what is a cliche other than a familiar scenario. The red faced fat boss with a big cigar yelling at people and humiliating them. Because he can ! Loading his large girth into a car with a price tag that could support a small nation.
Alas, Captain, my Captain, men usually know how " prick" like they can be. They don't want to be, they just are. They know they will disappoint their daughters, all their lives. Maybe it goes back to our cave man ancestors, men had to be warriors, fighting off the wooly mammoths and other males for supremacy.
I don't know. I just know today I am saddened by the death of a funny, funny man. A talented man, gone too soon. Who leaves his wife a widow, his children without a father and that's sad because of his " demons " bloody shame.
