IT’S a couple of minutes to 9am on Monday and Luke Darcy, Mick Molloy and I are wrapping up another edition of Triple M’s Hot Breakfast.
News comes through of the death of entertainment giant Robin Williams, aged 63.
The first reaction of any broadcaster/journalist is to check the story is right before going with it. It’s not until the scramble for verification is done that the human impact of the news hits you.
There’s a wave of sadness that another wonderful human has succumbed to the insidious killer that is depression.
You can’t help but feel the ache. What torment had taken control of his magnificent mind? A mind that was so intuitive, sharp, charismatic and giving.
He was a man whose philanthropy was famous; whose generosity to his friend and fellow actor Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic in a riding accident, was an amazing display of love; whose donation of his talent and time over the years proved his good heart.
Yet, despite the applause, the awards, love, fame and money, Williams found death more palatable than life.
Who knows the pressure?
Williams endured a long battle with depression, at various times he had roaring drug and alcohol problems, his television show had recently been cancelled and he reportedly had severe financial difficulties.
On the same day Williams died, we interviewed an Aussie soldier returned from Afghanistan, Lieutenant Geoff Evans. Evans has suffered mental issues since his return from the front after living through unimaginable trauma and stress. His plea was for support for his comrades coming home.
Evans spoke of the post-war trauma he suffered: walking down Sydney’s streets hyper-aware of his environment as if in fatigues and on patrol in a war zone; watching, sniffing, feeling and hoping that someone would try to jump him so he could release his coiled spring of emotions in an act of violence he was trained to use but which was a redundant commodity in the army surplus shop of life.
Evans spoke of Anzac Days becoming reunions for men who just can’t talk about those issues. They can’t function and don’t know where they fit in.
Surely with the Anzac Day centenary next year we, as those protected by 100 years of the Geoff Evanses of this world, can work out a way to look after these men?
After both stories, as a broadcaster I felt obliged to plug Lifeline and beyondblue. Firstly, because I believe in the work they do, but secondly, because that’s about all any of us, except the experts, know of mental health.
The Black Dog Institute has a fact sheet that says “men are the greatest risk of suicide but least likely to seek help. In 2010 men accounted for 76.9 per cent of deaths from suicide, yet 72 per cent of males don’t seek help for mental disorders”.
Maybe it’s because blokes don’t see it. Maybe it’s because we are conditioned to “harden up”. Maybe it’s because you are fair game if you show any weakness among friends or work colleagues but most probably, in the case of our military personnel, it’s because you can be consigned to the scrap heap if there’s “something wrong between the ears”.
Surely it is time to end this? Given almost 45 per cent of Australians will experience some sort of mental illness in their lifetime, why are we not changing our reaction from ridicule to empathy?
Every day at least six people commit suicide and another 30 attempt to take their lives.
That’s not taking into account those who self-medicate on drugs or alcohol, or just occasionally feel down.
So why in the Lucky Country are we so down on our luck? Maybe we need a little recalibration. Maybe instead of “searching for happiness”, we need to be trained to be resilient, satisfied, empathetic, loving and a contributor in life. Learn to appreciate life’s low-hanging fruit: family, friends and contentment.
EVERYWHERE we look we are told there is more, more, more. Kill or be killed. Get the better car, the better holiday, send the kids to the better school, get bigger boobs, have a better tan, the perfect body, the perfect partner, the best sex ...
Maybe we all need to give each other a break and work out what is important in life and live within it.
That doesn’t mean not having a red-hot go or being the best you can be — having goals and working towards them is necessary to a good life. But let’s look after our mates. We may not know we are spinning out of control, but friends do. What we need to do is listen to those who love us.
Sometimes that black dog just bites too hard and no one can judge the depths people fall in their own mind. But if we can all ease back on each other a bit and give our friends and family a hug, we might just all find we are feeling a whole lot better.
Robin Williams’s passing was something that took a piece of your soul.
He left an amazing legacy with his life and may his death not be in vain.Read more see realted searches below:
0 comments:
Post a Comment