I'm a big Friends fan, anyone who knows me knows this. If you've been a fan of the show, you know who Mr. Heckles is. The old guy that lives downstairs, wears a brown bathrobe, claims other people's things as his own, and uses a broom to try and stifle the pitter patter of footsteps from the "noisy girls upstairs". Let's just think about how genius his name is in the first place. Mr. Heckles. His life seems to heckle his neighbors and get under their skin even when he has nothing to really gain from it. He heckles for the sake of heckling.
In the episode where he dies, they believe that his last act of revenge was leaving all of his junk to Monica and Rachel. Nowadays Mr. Heckles would be considered a hoarder, and let's be honest, how did they not see that coming? The man lived in a bathrobe, where else would he be going? Obviously no to work or out on a date. The thing about the episode though, as they look through more of his stuff they begin to see more of who he was. Reading an old yearbook, Chandler finds out that they were both nominated class clown, and then finds more parallels between their lives. He's a little disturbed to find these similarities and then tries to get back with Janice (Oh My God!), but he makes the connection with the crazy man that lived downstairs.
My question is was Mr. Heckles gone too soon? What could we have learned from him if he had made it to a few more episodes? What were his stories behind all the crap he left behind in his apartment? What drove him to live a life that maybe his name predestined him to? I'd like to think about the people in my life that might be a Mr. Heckles. I don't know anyone that hoards to that extent or who seems to only own one bathrobe. But who are the people that I know that I'm passing by because they seem a little out there or strange or slightly annoying? Everyone has a story that's worth listening to, and that's all they'll really leave behind. Maybe Mr. Heckles story lies in the yearbook or the awful seashell lamp Rachel claimed, but now we'll never know. If only that broom or the walls of his apartment could talk, we could see into the life of a human being that the world was beginning to forget about.
That's what I take from this, that no matter what, people are people, and they all deserve a chance to have their story heard. We can learn from other's mistakes if we are only willing to listen to what they have to say. Outward appearance may play a part in whose story you want to hear, but who knows? You may find a kindred spirit in the crazy man that lives downstairs if you take the time to get to know him.
