I wanted this to be a tweet, but it was too long. I wanted this to be a facebook post, but it was too casual.
Truthfully, this probably doesn’t deserve to be written at all. But that’s not the world we live in.
Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away today, by as yet undisclosed (but almost certainly unnatural) means.
No stupid tweet can effectively eulogize a human being…that said, Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of my favorite actors and I will miss his talent. We live in a broken world where good people, talented people, die just the same as bad people do. Where well-known people pass away just the same as many thousands of other, lesser-known people will today. So while I encourage your expression of social media sympathy, I implore you to pair it with action. Tell a loved one that they’re loved. And if you struggle with addiction of any sort (not all drugs come in needle/pill/smokable/tangible form), please seek help. Don’t let the complexity and wonder and depth and breadth of your entire earthly existence be reduced to a handful of sympathetic tweets and facebook posts — no matter how sincere or well intentioned they may be. You are better than your shortcomings, you are bigger than your fear, you are stronger than you were. Stay alive.
-dh
“Success isn’t what makes you happy. It really isn’t. Success is doing what makes you happy and doing good work and hopefully having a fruitful life. If I’ve felt like I’ve done good work, that makes me happy. The success part of it is all gravy.” —Philip Seymour Hoffman
mind bullets 