World Suicide Prevention Day

Today, September the 10th is set aside as an awareness day to mark a world-wide commitment to reducing the number of suicides, and marks the start of World Suicide Prevention week.

Like so many other health and safety issues, one day/week is totally insufficient.  The available data (which is incomplete and delayed) suggests that more people kill themselves than die in wars, terrorist acts and interpersonal violence combined.  Without question Covid has increased those numbers, and they will stay high for quite some time.  The crisis phone lines are ringing hot, and the pain, the fear, the desperation are so very evident.

I have some personal understanding of the issues and emotions involved.  I spend time in the dark places myself and know both how fast and easy the plummet to the bottom can be and how very hard it is to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel much less climb out again.  In those dark days suicide has seemed like a viable solution, and a way to end my pain.  It has also seemed like a solution for the burdens I impose on those who know and/or love me.

Most of you know I do voluntary work with Lifeline Australia, a telephone crisis line.  Almost everyone who rings those lines with thoughts of suicide has at least a degree of ambivalence.  I, and all the other volunteers, will work on that ambivalence to keep the caller safe for the moment/the day and to help them see and consider other options.   Lifeline believes that suicide is often preventable and that the start of the journey to safety can be only a phone call away.  It is often a long and painful journey but should never ever be one that people feel condemned to walk alone.

Here in Australia suicide is still the leading cause of death for people aged under 44.  More people die from suicide each year than are killed on the roads.  Sadly even before the pandemic the numbers of people we lose to suicide were rising again.  Which, given that I suspect suicide is under reported, is scary.

Not only does suicide take its toll on our young, there are other groups who are over-represented in its tragic ranks including (but not limited to) our indigenous population, the LGBTQI community, people with mental health issues, farmers, tradesmen, the unemployed, and the military.  While we still lose more men to suicide than women, the numbers of women who die to suicide is climbing (an equality I don't want). 

In 2011 Lifeline began  national suicide prevention walks - 'Out of the Shadows and into the Light'. The walks begin before dawn and continue into the growing light.  It remembers those lost and those bereaved by suicide, with an additional focus on raising awareness.  The symbolism of starting the walk in the dark and progressing into the light of a new day means a lot to me.  Some centres start their walk later (ten or eleven) to attract more people and publicity.  I can see why, but am glad that our walks start in the dark.  This date and the event are important to me.  Sadly my city is still in lockdown and this year's walk has been cancelled.  I expect that the same is true in two of our most populous states.  My heart goes out to the bereaved and to those at risk.

I don't think that all suicide is wrong, particularly given our euthanasia laws.  However, it is such a final decision that I hope it is not the first option considered or tried.  And, as a solution to a temporary problem, I do think it is wrong.  Right or wrong it is always a tragedy.  A tragedy for the person who had, or believed they had, no other options and a tragedy for those they leave behind.  And the ripples from that tragedy encompass a lot of people.  Research shows that each time someone suicides, there are up to 135 people affected.  In addition there is strong evidence that if someone close to you dies by suicide your own chances of taking that path are dramatically increased.  
 
RU OK day (September 14) is also celebrated in World Suicide Prevention Week.  A  simple question we should be asking family, friends and colleagues every day.

Some services and links which may be useful for Australian readers include:

Lifeline 1311 14

Beyond Blue

Suicide Call Back Service

These lines are open 24 hours a day, but they are also inundated with callers.  You may not get through straight away, but please keep trying.

I do hope that you, and those you love are safe.  So many of you have become very dear to me.  Be kind, and include yourselves in that kindness.

 

 

Sunday Selections #549

 

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

 

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.

 

The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle. 

 

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.   

I usually run with a theme.  This week I am mostly posting photos from home again.  We are still in lockdown.

Waiting outside the chemist for prescriptions to be filled (goodness what an exciting outing) I spotted this mural.

 

It is outside an Early Learning Centre and I liked that it avoided cliches about carer's gender and about nationality.  The garden beside it was cheery too - and has tulips in bud.

 I have spent a lot of the week in our garden.  Weeding (much more to be done) and just wandering.  Ours is not an 'ordered' garden.  Himself likes plants in rows and indeed plants them that way.  I plant between, behind and in front of his rows.  They are still there - but I cannot see them.

Starting with the colour which was very evident even on a foggy morning.

Then to another orchid which is blooming.  I was particularly pleased to see this one.  Years ago we bought it for a friend's birthday.  Before we could give it to her a certain cat (who sometimes answers to Jazz) batted it all round the kitchen and knocked every single bud and bloom from it.  We bought our friend something different and put it outside.  Where it sulked.  This year for the first year since it has flowered.

I will finish this post with a plethora of other photos from the gardenjungle.

You will notice that the daffodil in the photo above has been chewed.  I suspect that the snail (or his relatives) on the jonquils (also in that photo) may have had something to do with that.

I am blown away by the incredible variety of daffodils that are available now.

My mother always grew grape hyacinths too.  It was my first mondegreen (when she talked about them I always heard grey pythons and couldn't understand where the name came from).  I now have some snowy white ones too and hope to take a successful photo of them soon.

I hope your week is filled with colour, with texture, with scent and with joy.

 

Dignity Drive

Share the Dignity is an Australian charity which works to help disadvantaged people, particularly women.  The #Dignity Drive focuses on providing sanitary items so that 'No woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating or buying sanitary items.'

The Goods and Services Tax has (finally) been removed from sanitary products but they are still not cheap.  A local real estate agent acts as a collection point, and it is a drive I am very happy to support.

We are asked to contribute new and unopened sanitary items such as pads, tampons, cups and incontinence products for distribution to those in need to ensure that everyone is afforded the dignity in life than many  of us take for granted.

I have been collecting goods for some time and this year I finally tracked down a Menstrual Cup.  They are really not cheap though.  I gather than you might need two (one for heavier days) and that they should last six to nine months.  I found them in two places.  In the first they cost $45 each !!!.  They were roughly half that in the second place I found them, but I suspect at those prices they are out of reach of many women.  Cheaper in the long term they may be - but only if you have the funds for that initial purchase.

 

McCann's (a local real estate agent) is acting as a collection agent.  Sadly our lockdown has meant that their office is closed and I had to hunt for somewhere else I could take my contribution (while not breaching the lockdown provisions).

 

It is a great cause, and shouldn't be necessary.  Sadly it is. The impact of COVID-19 has meant that even more women are having to make the choice between buying food or sanitary items.

I hope that when our lockdown gets lifted (at this stage at the middle of this month) businesses will continue to collect and distribute (despite the drive officially finishing at the end of last month).

Sadly at the moment it seems that dignity is another loss that we can chalk up to Covid.  We are all in this together, but we are emphatically not all in the same boat. 

While Share the Dignity is an Australian charity the need still exists across the world.  Perhaps there is something similar near you.

 

 

Where are the Words For Wednesday?

 

Last month  David M. Gascoigne gave us some wonderful prompts for which I thank him.

This month  Cindi is providing the prompts.

October 2021:  I am providing the prompts here.   

November 2021:  Margaret Adamson and her friends will be providing the prompts, but they will appear here.

 
December 2021:  Me again.

Given that the prompts are provided from both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres the prompts can appear from as early as Tuesday your time until Thursday your time. 

This meme definitely falls into the 'more the merrier' category.  I hope that lots of you will visit whoever is providing the prompts and play - or applaud.  Commenting on other people's creations -whether they post them on the host's blog or their own, is hugely important.  We ALL need encouragement.  So please, take a few extra minutes to comment on the participant's creations.

 

Sunday Selections #548

 

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

 

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.

 

The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle. 

 

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.

   

I usually run with a theme.  This week I am mostly posting photos from home again.  We are still in lockdown and while it will supposedly end next Friday I have my doubts.  Our numbers are relatively low, but too many of them have been in the community while infectious. 

As usual I have been delighting in the sky.

I often refer to our dawns as 'galah' coloured.  I think these photos will show you why.

Of course they weren't the only birds to visit.  I am thrilled to say that most mornings the Turquoise Parrots stop by.  And I am adding a photo of Noisy Miner.  They ARE noisy and are currently harvesting nectar from the last of the camellia blooms.

 

 He/she doesn't look impressed with the photographer though.

 

I did get out one day last week to go into town to do a shift with Lifeline.  Goodness the streets (and the buses) were deserted.  The phone lines were not.

 

Spring  has obviously arrived (though the temperatures over the last few days would dispute that).  The first photos are taken from my walk to the bus stops, and in the town centres where I change buses.

The colour is really starting to pop in our garden too.  We have had a lot of damp grey days lately.  The garden doesn't care.

 

I took these photos from behind the daffodils early one morning and was blown away by how they captured the early light.

 I showed you the ginger interloper last week.  His bigger, older relative (who we know as Big Ginge) is also a regular visitor.  Jazz hates him too.

 

We have tulips in bud, and more emerging every day.

I mentioned last week that we have orchids in bud, but said that I didn't think they would bloom for ages.  I was wrong, and am closely watching the other orchids too.

 The nectar loving birds and insects delight in the many grevilleas in the yard.

Last week one of the regular walkers in the street paid me a lovely compliment and thanked me for the respite and beauty the garden gives her.  She said that it was a highlight of her walks.  She walked on, and I floated inside.

 

I hope your weeks bring you joy too.