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D Scott

Monday, October 30th, 2023 10:17am

I'm not the type of person that puts famous people up on a pedestal in my personal life. It's just something that I stopped doing a long time ago. However the loss of Matthew Perry over the weekend seems to hurt more than most celebrity deaths. Please come along for the ride with me as I try to put into words why this one has effected me on a different level.

As someone that was "growing up" when Friends was in the midst of it's run on network tv, I never really was a huge fan of the show. I knew what it was about and I knew that it was a massive hit but for some reason I just had no interest in watching the show. Maybe it's because everyone loved the show so much and I just wanted to be different. I can't really tell you what the reason was. Fast forward many years later, the show is being rerun on tv and I'm working from home. I happened to stumble upon the show one day and it became a part of my daily routine. It helped bring laughter into my day when there really wasn't anything else to laugh at. I was sitting there, doing what I needed to do for work with Friends on in the background. It was more than just something to have on the tv, I was falling in love with the characters that I once had no interest in. For me, my two favorites were Chandler and Joey. I loved their friendship. I loved Joey's cluelessness. Most of all, I loved Chandler's sarcasm and wit. He was as quick as they came. Always had something to add to the conversation. In a way, I think I saw myself in that character. 

After doing some looking into who Matthew Perry was, I found out that even though he was someone that struggled with addictions, he was always willing to help others out. He wanted to help them get clean and fix their life even if it was something he couldn't do for himself. That, for me, is something that is admirable. His willingness to put others first. His willingness to help people get their lives straight. A quote that came out in the wake of his passing really struck me and I'd love to share it with you

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life and a lot of wonderful accolades,”  “but the best thing about me is that if an alcoholic comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me stop drinking?’ I will say, ‘Yes. I know how to do that.'”

For me, this celebrity passing just hits a little closer to home. It's not a "oh he's famous" or a "look how wonderful he is" but more of the fact that he helped get me through some tougher times. The times when I was stuck in the house looking for something to laugh at. So thank you Matt for those laughs. Thank you for the sarcasm. Thank you for bringing back some of those memories from my younger years in life. Thank you for being a bright spot during a darker time. Thank you for being someone that was willing to help others even when you couldn't find a way to help yourself.

Good bye Chander Bing and once again, thank you.

Feature photo: Reuters