Michael Brown and Robin Williams  

One colleague ministers to a Presbytery in St. Louis, MO not too distant from Ferguson where the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown occurred that triggered a national protest of indignation and revealed again the ugly racial divide that sears the soul of a nation.

As stand-up comic Robin Williams might have quipped on the vaunted melting pot the U.S. aspires to be as “hardly melting though it has generally gone to pot!”

I do not find anything funny about the Michael Brown case that reportedly began when a cruising officer at 2pm told two young boys to get off the road where they were walking, into the sidewalk where the officer wanted them to be. The language used in the exchange and the alleged altercation that followed has since gone into media frenzy for the latest explosive bombshell in the story; it has turned into another Trayvon Martin case abducted by cause-oriented bodies and the insatiable appetite of the media for blood in the blame-game. 

Or, perhaps, that’s where the tragedy lies: it has become just another Trayvon Martin case, as one of Martin’s Florida lawyers reportedly signed in to represent the Browns in court, and no less than the flamboyant Rev. Al Sharpton showed up at one of the vigils.  The Police Commish has his hands full for another media circus. 

It is the comedy of Robin Williams whose track record with USO is without blemish that we find levity in life just to be the flip side of its tragedy. Robin himself, found dead at 63 with his belt around his neck in what is now reported to be an act of suicide, would not have found fault in the title we use on the occasion of his death:  Good Morning, Baghdad! 

The allusion is on the war-comedy movie of Good Morning, Vietnam. Williams played a radio DJ for the Armed Forces radio that was more irreverent than the ordinary. The simplistic plot of the movie did not deter in my catching the bug on Robin’s brand of humor. 

I encountered Williams in the Mork and Mindy TV shows when I came in and out of the U.S. 1977-82.  The plot assaulted contemporary values, with Mork the alien from Ork, finally marrying Mindy, bearing a child that came out looking elderly (Jonathan Winters played the role). Orkians grew from mature looks at birth into infants when they finally die! 

I caught him in the World According to Garp, making him a steady presence in my meditative council for his humor in Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, Mrs. Doubtfire, Night at the Museum, The Man of the Year, and the various voice characters (e.g., Fern Gully and Happy Feet) he created. Our reference to USO comes from his faithful appearances to entertain the troops in the Afghan and Iraqi war zones.

His rehab away from cocaine addiction is a matter of record, and his bout with alcoholism was often a subject of his own jokes. He married a Pinoyze with whom he had two kids, but he guarded his privacy and we respected his choice. It was his brand of comedy, impudent but real, that got us glued.

We are not bothered by the maner of his exit.  A dear friend takes depression pills and I know how that can get ugly.  We are not being dismissive of what many consider “unnecessary” exist measures either. I am still getting comments for my reflection on self-immolation on my birthday, especially as I lifted up the behavior a colleague who performed the Buddhist act of sacrifice to flames. 

It is the manner of Robin William’s living of his life that we celebrate at this moment of completion. I have said it of myself, and of others before, without reservation nor apology, and of Robin Williams: he was one unique, unrepeatable gift of life into human history; there has never been one like him before, and there will never be another one like him ever again.  This gem of truth I live with applies to anyone else who comes into this earth.  Arrival is not at the end of life; it is at the entry at birth!  The rest is a case of unfolding in active dialogue and evolution within one’s chosen environment and locale. 

I do not know much about Michael Brown, though I suspect, the news will give us all the details of his personal upbringing. We join his mother’s wishes that the case focus on Brown’s shooting rather than he be sidelined again into another celebrated cause. 

Robin Williams will have many retrospective moments before the year is over. His was a life not easy to dismiss, and a sense of humor not easy to discard. His ability to take life itself as the subject of his humor was remarkable. At a USO performance, in the middle of his monologue, the bugle of “Retreat” sounded as the flag was lowered. The crowd immediately stood at attention, executed an about face, and ignored Williams altogether.  He turned the intentional about face into hearty guffaws from his audience.

Growing up in an Episcopalian environment who he defined as a Catholic with only half the guilt, this renegade Methodist (a Catholic with no guilt) ecu-toasts his life: L’achaim!