And cruelty toward all

Robin Williams is dead at the age of 63. He leaves behind a comedic history which we may never see again. He leaves behind a volume of film work that produced over five billion dollars in revenue. He leaves behind a series of humorous and brilliantly human interviews with Charlie Rose…and all I can add is “Thank you, Mr. Williams. I’m deeply regretful that the demons who haunted you finally won.” Rest in Peace.

Unfortunately, there are people in this world who don’t want Robin Williams to rest in peace. Too bad, he’s already crossed over and has become a perfect being in the eyes of God. Only God knew what haunted him, and I happen to believe in a forgiving God. I won’t even mention the name of the right-wing radio personality who publicly stated that Williams died because he was a leftist and that all leftists are sad and dark. There are people in this world who are just plain cruel, and I have to admit that I don’t understand that. It would be better for these people to keep their opinions to themselves. As Lincoln said, “Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it.” I think it was Lincoln; I don’t really care. I’m quite certain that a great many folks have expressed it in one way or another throughout the centuries.

I didn’t know Mr. Williams. There were many times when I thought about inviting him to ride his bike in the Pan-Mass Challenge, but I never worked up the courage to write to him. The kicker is that from what I’ve heard and seen, I’ll bet that he would have arranged his schedule to be at the PMC because of what it serves. Come to find out, he did a great deal of charity cycling for various causes in California. I suppose that there were people who watched him and secretly hoped he fall off his bike or have some kind of accident. I use the word “secretly” because cruel people generally want to remain anonymous. They don’t have the courage – the balls, if you wish – to say what their devious little minds are truly thinking.

What is gained by speaking cruelly of someone, living or dead? What satisfaction is gained? Do people do this because they are lacking some chromosome in their DNA? Are they jealous of the person, who is a success; who has done something that leaves the world a better place for having been in it? Perhaps these are the people, like the radio announcer who just want to garner attention for being outrageous because they understand that they don’t have anything that is sufficiently concrete to be mourned when they die. Perhaps these are the twits who feel that their ‘friends’ will know who posted or tweeted or did some other social media idiocy, so they remain in the dark shadows of anonymity.

Making cruel remarks about sad situations is just another form of bullying and, like most bullies, they are fearful that if their name becomes known, they will then become the bulled. The entire social dynamic of this is a blot on who we are as a society.

There will probably be some comments about Lauren “Betty” Bacall, the wonderful actress who died less than 72 hours after Mr. Williams. But wait, most of the cruelty comes from a certain demographic and they wouldn’t have seen Bacall on screen. That probably won’t stop them however; cruelty and ignorance appear to go hand in hand when we’re talking about those who will hide behind the anonymity of social media.

There’s little more to be said by me. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Man is the cruelest animal,” and Dostoyevsky added, “People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”

Enough; those of you who may have made nasty comments about Robin Williams; go back to your lonely, bitter little lives, and leave the mourners to our tears and fond memories.