"Cuz we're all family.
That's it, jack.
And fuck all that other shit."
There's never been an artist I loved like Richard. So much of how I think, how I strive to represent myself to whatever extent I have a public voice... so much of who I am comes from Richard.
Richard's every word as a performer was informed by honesty and compassion. A commitment to the principle that every human being deserves to be treated with kindness and respect, and to calling you out if you did not live by this principle. And a commitment to telling the truth. A fearless honesty about the world that was surpassed only by his fearless honesty about himself.
Honesty and compassion. Maybe the two hardest things to maintain in life, but they are the ones that count the most.
That's what Richard taught us. That when we can look honestly at ourselves and at each other, and react with compassion to whatever we see, we can always laugh together. Even, or maybe especially, in the hardest of the hard times.
