@tutorial doctor
I don't see conspiracy. Guy was known to be depressed historically. Guy was diagnosed with Parkinson's, a fatal degenerative disease, and a disease which has depression as a key symptom. Those three together are more than enough to see suicide as rational from his perspective.
Personally, as a rapid cycling bipolar individual, I can completely understand someone taking their own life. It may not seem rational to most people, but when you have a physical condition that you know is going to cause incredible internal suffering, in my case for roughly 50% of my life, it can seem like a very tempting option. Most people who kill themselves do it to end their own internal suffering.
There are two big causes of clinical depression. The first is due to situation: a loved one died, fired from work, or some other major negative change. Sometimes those are short lived, but other times those depressions require quite a lot of therapy to get your mind back into a good place. The second is due to chemistry: bipolar is a key example, Parkinson's disease is another, thyroid disease and certain hormone imbalances also cause it. Neither one can be corrected by just telling the person everything is okay, or to snap out of it, or to just move on with life.
Having lived through and watched many depressive episodes, from my experience the chemical depressions are far worse than situational depressions. One instance of losing my job shut me down emotionally for several weeks, which is a depression. I've had some relatives die, but one of them shut me down for about two months, which is a depression. These I knew that with time and patience I could work through. But the chemically caused depression, the bipolar times when I know there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, and no additional doses of 'happy pills' that I take to minimize the disruption can ever eliminate it. During those times the world is absolutely horrible and fundamentally wrong in ways that are difficult to explain. Although drugs make it less bad, it is still a world where there is no pleasure, there will never be pleasure again, memories of pleasurable events are difficult to experience, and if you are able to feel anything at all it is a deep pain, a black void that can never be satisfied or corrected. Even though I logically know and have family and two doctors who keep telling me I'll break out of it, and even though I've broken out of it every time in the past, during those longs weeks of bipolar-induced depression it feels like there is no escape. No matter how much people tell me it will end in a few weeks, or even in a few days (my cycle is predictable within about 5 days as long as I'm on the right drugs) it still feels like the internal torment will never end and death is the only way to possibly end the pain.
It is something I would not wish on people, except perhaps a few people who I feel need a dose of humility to understand the darker sides of humanity.
I can completely understand how ANYBODY (especially one who has known serious depression before) who is facing a disease that will slowly but certainly destroy his physical body and his mind could take their own life. In some ways when things get bad enough it seems as though it is one of the few things you can have any control over at all. I cannot fault him for doing it.
Getting back on track.
Robin Williams was a great actor, and I loved how he acted in a bunch of his movies. Much of his comedy in shows was unscripted, that was just who he was.
He went around the world trying to bring a bit of joy to people.
He was also a well-respected volunteer and philanthropist. The world is a harsh and unforgiving place, and he did a lot to try to bring a smile to the face of those who were suffering.
He'll certainly be missed.
