Nothing in this world is black and white.  Even black and white are made up of different colors of the spectrum. The death of Robin Williams is not black and white either. It IS possible to say that his suicide was both wrong and yet somewhat understandable due to his battles with depression.

Robin Williams death
Getty Images
loading...

I'm writing this because of a listener comment that there seems to be a dual standard here, that we say one thing when it comes to normal people and other when it comes to celebrities.  I think the difference here is in this case the person had a well documented history of depression and also really showed that you can have everything (fame, money) and still not be able to overcome it.

Now let me say, barring a terminal illness, suicide is wrong. It is selfish. It is not an option. You can't put that pain on the people around you. Those around a victim will spend their whole lives wondering if they didn't love that person enough or that their brains will eventually make them do something tragic.  These lessons need to be taught over and over and over to help others from making this horrible mistake.   At the same time, we need to have empathy for those who crossed over the line due to mental illness.  We can do both.

More From KFMX FM