Richard Pryor

I feel sorry for Richard Pryor. Mr. Pryor died December 10 of a heart attack. He suffered for the past eighteen years of MS. I don’t know if you know anything about MS or not, but it is a horrible disease that eats away at your body causing you to lose control of your body. A friend of mine is suffering from it and even though hers is semi-controlled by medication, it is a horrible thing to watch, much less suffer through.

Anyway, getting back to Richard Pryor… I was reading Entertainment Weekly’s tribute to him and I mentioned to Cheryl that I feel sorry for him. He had so much potential – yeah, he threw some of it away with drugs, but he cleaned himself up and then, he was struck with MS. He could no longer work after 1991. Cheryl said that she didn’t feel sorry for him; she felt that he had thrown away his life on drugs and that was that. Anything he got, well, that was just too damn bad.


Sometimes, I wonder about my wife. I must really be a bleeding heart liberal Christian because I almost always feel sorry for anyone who suffers, even if it is at their own hand. Cheryl is a realist and doesn’t feel sorry for anyone who has money – as if money is the great equalizer. If you get cancer and you’re poor, she’ll feel sorry for you, but if you get cancer and you’re a millionaire, oh, well, you have money.But, money doesn’t buy happiness. It buys fancy cars and diamond rings, big houses in the right neighborhoods, but it doesn’t buy happiness. At night, when you crawl into bed, you’re either happy or your not. You either feel lucky to have all the things you have or you have nothing and you’re thankful for your family and friends.

But, again, getting back to Richard Pryor.

I remember a routine he did in the 80's. He apoligized for using the N word in his routines. He said that he had seen the light and that by using the word he was just hurting others of his own race. Unfortunately, I don't think his message really stuck in heads of the young because Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle throw the word around like it doesn't hold anything over them. Well, maybe, that's a good thing. I don't really know, as I'm not black, but I know if you called me a dyke, I'll rip your head off. Maybe, I'm just too sensitive.

Mr. Pryor supported many great causes and I thought I'd list some for you:

Pryor's Planet
United Animal Nations
Compassion for Camden This one has some graphic pictures of animals that were toutured.

I hope he rests in peace because I don’t think he got any here on earth. I just wonder what comedy routines he’s entertaining God with and I hope someday, I’ll get to hear them.

Godspeed, Mr. Pryor.

And may God Bless the rest of us.