[kirklancaster]

There are many words now from the English vocabulary, which are so misused yet overused to describe even the most mundane of non 'Celebrities', that they have become meaningless in the true sense; 'Genius', 'Star', 'Giant', and 'Legend', are just a few.

Once in a while though, certain 'Celebrities' grace our screens or bless our music players, who truly deserve those descriptors.

Robin Williams is one.

There is no need for me to replicate all the kind words said about him since his so tragic passing or for me to eulogise about him - though I will anyway - only to say that, when it comes to 'Celebrities', sometimes, just sometimes, we 'ordinary' people, instinctively see through all the hype and P.R. 'spin', and see the real mortal behind the public persona.

We 'sense' the private kindness and caring, the generosity of spirit, we 'feel' the vulnerabilities behind the public 'confidence', we 'know' that behind the Hollywood 'Good Guy' image, is a genuinely real 'Good Guy'.

Robin Williams was one.

I grew up and grew old watching Robin Williams; from 'Mork and Mindy', I became a fan and loved the 'Comic' and the 'Actor', and as the years passed, I became a fan of the 'Man Behind The Mask' and loved him even more deeply.

No one 'really' passes, because while ever someone, somewhere, holds them in their hearts and memories, they live on.

With we mere mortals, that may be our own family members and small, circle of friends.

With 'Celebrities' who have passed, that is the tens of millions of people whose ordinary lives were 'lifted', 'transformed' for a few hours, by their talents.

Yet it is not the body of their work, no matter how high a quality it may be, that truly defines how a 'Star' is remembered, but the quality of the real human being behind that temporarily dazzling 'Starlight'.

It is only a matter of nanoseconds once some 'Stars' pass on, before their 'public personas' are being forever besmirched by media 'exposes' about often sordid and shocking 'real' selves - Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, and Rock Hudson spring to mind - but with the loving, caring, kind, and generous Robin Williams, we not only KNOW, that once Toto pulls that curtain back and exposes the Wizard, that we won't find any lesser mortal amplifying his voice and himself through any P.R. microphone, we will find just the same loving, caring, kind, and generous Robin Williams who we have grown to love.

R.I.P. Robin - a REAL Star, Legend, and human.