R.I.P Robin Williams: An incredibly sad loss!

"But doctor, I am Pagliacci."

Heartbroken about Robin Williams. He was without a doubt one of the greatest comic minds and actors of our time. I do not know how I will get through Dead Poets Society or Good Will Hunting or the episodes of Whose Line featuring him now. Such a tragic end to someone who has put smiles on countless faces, and inspired many a slacker through his scene on the bench in Good Will Hunting (much of which was improvised). He entertained children and troops on the field and his Reddit AMA is one of the best I have read.

We will miss him and remember him, eulogize him and fondly watch his videos thirty years from now and tell the next generation of the genius they did not witness, but I hope we do not miss the warning signs in this tragedy about our attitudes towards mental health. 

From social stigma to lack of research funding to lack of insurance coverage, mental illness has been that one thing we absolutely refuse to talk about or heal. How many Ledgers and Williams and Curtises and Cobains and brothers and sisters are we willing to lose before we wake up to the fact that this needs to be worked out? Every conversation about depression descends into either condescension about one's willpower or a bullshit discussion about spirituality and other such ill-defined matters, without a single person treating it as the medical condition and epidemic that it is. From people torturing mentally ill persons in India to "exorcise" them to supposedly happy celebrities ending their lives, we need to wake the fuck up, and soon. 

This tragedy has already sparked some debate about the matter. While there is little solace in hoping for good to come out of a calamity, I'm sure John Keating would have liked us to continue with our pursuits even as he leaves in a departure not worthy of him. And he would have said as he left, "Carpe Diem."