Thinking of Robin Williams

I don't believe for a second that he wore a mask.  Many of my personal acquaintances who have experienced depression themselves are also some of the funniest people I know.  Is that because they are using humor to hide their sadness?  I don't think so.  Is it so farfetched to believe that some people make conscious choices to deliver happiness to the people around them whether they themselves feel it or not?  Is it possible that's what Robin Williams did?
"I never knew you suffered from depression!"  Do we expect people who do experience depression to mope about and chronically complain?  If they did, would we be able to listen and be supportive, and refrain from advising them to just buck up?  Would we have more to offer than empty words?  Are we equipped with resources to help?
Depression is one of the symptoms, a side effect, of adrenal fatigue, so I'm not unfamiliar with it.  No, I haven't talked much about experiencing depression.  It was enough that I had no choice but to endure it.  But I did have the power to make a decision to not give it any air time.  Sometimes I felt like that was the only power I had, and you can bet I used it.  (Does that mean every time I laugh or joke, I'm hurting on the inside?  No.  I just see humor in a lot of things and I share it.  Sometimes my humor is even able to encourage someone else who is enduring depression.)
Maybe we should assume that everyone around us is going through or has gone through depression or some other form of pain, whether physical or emotional.  Or both.  Perhaps, instead of accusing people of trying to hide it, we could applaud them for surviving.  Rather than feeling that someone didn't trust us enough to reveal their pain, we might acknowledge that we just didn't see it, and forgive ourselves for that.
I'm pretty sure God gave us each two ears and one mouth because we should learn to listen twice as much as we talk.  We tell people that our door is always open, that we're here for them.  But when they try to talk with us, are we really listening with the intent to really hear?  Or, as Stephen R. Covey says, are we listening with the intent to reply?
Thanks to Robin Williams, for making us laugh even though he didn't always feel like it.  We loved him.  We miss him.
You are loved, too.  You're not alone.