Depression kills
The whole world was in shock when award winning comedy actor Robin Williams took his own life last week. He was best known for roles that were full of laughter and vigor.
It was a tremendous shock to me especially when I just watched his recent film entitled "The angriest man in Brooklyn." It was a story of a man who worked in a real estate firm. His life was full of anger which he took out on anyone he met. Towards the end of the movie, he lost his life due to aneurism but he never lost his loved ones who were there amidst his erratic personality. However, this movie is totally different from reality.
On Williams' death, reports came out saying that he used a belt to hang himself inside a closet. How could a man, full of life look at death so easily? The answer: depression. Williams was not the only person who ended his life due to depression. There were many others; others who have also made a mark in the entertainment industry. They are far too many to mention.
According to my psychology teacher back in college, people in highly developed countries start seeing psychologists in their early teens. If you do not have a doctor, you are an unusual kind. This is probably because of the weak support system that they have. Their family system is not as closely-knit as ours. We, Filipinos, practice having multiple families inside a home. We have friends that are just a message away. For them, there are no friends which they could run easily to in the busy moments of their life. A budding career is more important to most of them than relationships that money cannot buy.
In the story of Williams, it only helped me realize that true meaning of the famous line the youth use these days - YOLO, you only live once. Although he has lived long enough to reach 63, the whole world feels that he could have done more than the records that he already set. He was well loved by millions but he never felt it.
The root cause of depression stems to the isolation you place upon yourself. You try to look for temporary solutions to ease the isolation such as short term superficial relationships with the opposite gender. However, this breaks you even more when forever seems to be shorter than what you have been expecting.
When the isolation no longer becomes a convenience, loneliness creeps in and a lot of thoughts enter the mind. With the million thoughts formed in that one part of the body, a depressed person entertains death as a solution to the intense loneliness. Thus, suicide occurs.
With the number of suicide cases rising around the world and our province, we know this could have been avoided if constant communication were present - not only with the people that we know and love but also with the Creator up above. Most people think when there are no human interactions, they are already alone but they have forgotten the sole Being that they can always talk to anytime of the day. And that One is up there looking down on us.
I have no idea if Williams have lived his life to the fullest but we do know the extent of what he has done. Now that a legend in the entertainment industry is gone, we can only look back at the laughter he brought to us. In all this, we must remember that YOLO does not mean wasting our life on late night parties. But we live only once to say words that could be said before it is too late.
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