A few weeks ago, my attention was drawn to the news of the discovery of the body of a middle aged professional man, who appears to have fallen to his death in the Sumner/Taylors Mistake area. This death was made more personal by the fact that it was the husband of one of my wife's work collegues. Talking to my wife about him, it would appear that this man had it all, and was one of life's great success stories.
A few day after this, I noticed in the 'situations vacant' that a leading Canterbury health organisation was seeking to fill a newly created position of "Suicide Prevention Officer". Clearly, one of the largest health providers in Canterbury realised there was a problem out there. Apparantly middle aged, well off white guys are the target audience for this one.
The seemingly unecessary death of Crowded House drummer Paul Hester a few years ago is something that I still think about frequently. I never met the man, and wasn't in his circle of people by any means. I did follow his career closely as a life member of the Split Enz fan club however, so gained some small insight into the kind of man he was. Again, he appeared to be living a wonderful life. He had made it to the very top of what he did, and had many creative outlets on the go. Again, something obviously was terribly wrong.
Personally, I have found the aftermath of Paul's death perplexing. A song about his death appeared on the latest Crowded House 'comeback' album, and friends and former band members have quietly acknowledged him from time to time. But, generally, information has been very scarce. As a fan, I suppose after all these years, I just want to know 'why?'. What made him go to such extreme measures? What support structures were in place? From this far away, even after all this time, what he did just doesn't make sense.
He didn't die of a drug overdose, or in a place crash, or from natural causes. He took his own life, leaving two young children behind. Even as I write this, that stirs up many diverse emotions, some of them very ugly ones. There is much talk about closure when someone dies, but when suicide is the cause, people still seem uncomfortable with it. Paul's death, for me, remains unfinished.
I sure hope this suicide prevention officer makes a big difference in Christchurch, and gives those thinking about taking their own lives some real, meaningful options. If only because I am slap bang in the middle of the age group at most risk!
