The Academy’s Tweet In Memory Of Robin Williams Is Really A Tearjerker

[Eyerish]

Grab your tissues...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/the-academys-tweet-in-memory-of-robin-williams-is-really-a-t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. .

[Xyzse]

2. Still sad. Saw this post by Lisa Green-Clancey

Lisa Green-Clancey ·
Tinkerbell: You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming?
-Peter nods-
Tinkerbell: That's where I'll always love you... Peter Pan. That's where I'll be waiting.

Then I remembered that Robin Williams played Peter Pan in Hook.

I am just sad about this.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. saw that, too. Makes me want to watch it all over again. always did love the story of Peter Pan.

I am very sad tonight, too. such a loss. May he rest in peace.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. That post is just beautiful...

Oh boy.

And I thought I was done tearing up...

[octoberlib]

5. Tweet from Zelda Williams , his daughter

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/robin-williams-daughter-zelda-tweets-heartbreaking-message-t

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. ...

[lastlib]

9. "Et il rit encore."

(I had to read the French-language version of Le Petit Prince in high school. I remember that part of it by heart to this day. SO Appropos!) Thank you for posting this!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. ...

I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone. Robin Williams.

I can relate...

[Aristus]

8. I always thought that the Genie's soliloquy about freedom was the most authentic part of that film.

"But, oh! To be free!..."

[MADem]

10. Mental health professionals don't agree. They think it's dangerous and gives permission to people

to kill themselves. Several articles on these lines have been published since that tweet:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/genie-you-re-free-suicide-is-not-liberation.html



'Genie, You're Free': Suicide Is Not Liberation

...

Paying tribute to such a beloved public figure as Williams seems only natural. Trying to do so in a way that acknowledges the painful reality of his struggles with addiction and depression makes those tributes more difficult and complicated. Unfortunately, this can result in sending a well-intentioned but perilous message.....it is wholly understandable for them to want to pay homage to his greatness and his humanity. But their manner of doing so was very troubling.


Featuring a still from the movie “Aladdin,” in which Williams gave voice to the Genie in one of of his most lauded roles, the message is simply “Genie, you’re free.” On its surface, the message is simple and poignant, yet hopeful. But beneath that surface is a very wrong idea.

Though I am not a child psychiatrist, I have been involved in the care of many, many depressed children and adolescents over the course of my career. Some express a feeling of hopelessness and that their intractable sadness will never abate. It is vitally important for these patients to keep holding on. The very last thing I would want communicated to them is the idea that death is freedom, and suicide is liberation.

Further, the contagion effect of suicide and the resultant attention to it is a well-documented phenomenon. Coverage of suicide can lead to others committing or attempting suicide themselves, particularly adolescents and young adults. Minimizing this effect is an important part of framing the coverage of any such death, particularly for one so famous and admired as Williams. One thing to be strenuously avoided is anything that smacks of glorifying the act itself. .... the Academy’s message does just that. It conflates the Genie’s fate with the man who gave him voice. But the Genie’s story goes on after the conclusion of the film, while William’s life has come to a tragic and untimely end. It is the wrong message to send.

[The Wizard]

11. He came into our lives like a shooting star

and before we were finished watching his glow he vanished.

[Duppers]

12. beautiful tribute

and so true.