JUNE 1 2019 LISTENER 5
really understand in the way
someone else who has been
through it can. That’s not to
exclude others or be part of a
poor-me brigade. It’s just hard,
messy and shitty.
Another thing that stood
out for me at the time was the
number of people who came
up to me to offer a comforting
word or empathetic gesture
and told me of their own
family, friend or partner’s sui-
cide, in most cases years ago.
In all these cases, I had never
known of their loss, and may
never have done until sud-
denly I was part of that “club”,
too. Which was slightly
depressing. Was I, too, going
to be like that one day, only
letting this out when others
were similarly affected? I made
a pact with myself not to, with
no judgment towards those
who just wanted to be kind
and in their own way help me
that day.
A few years down the track
and I get it: you don’t want to
focus on the sadness of what
happened; the how it hap-
pened. You have to find your
own ways to re-embrace life,
because the truth is no one
else can do it for you. And you
do have to choose it.
Michelle Fox-Bishop
(Whakatāne)As a youth psychiatrist I am
pleased with the media’s con-
tinued interest in suicide, but
with some caveats.
Our total youth suicide
rate is the second-highest in
the OECD, but this dubious
honour is due entirely to
Māori deaths. Pākehā death
rates are no different from
those in the rest of the OECD.
This should influence priorities
in suicide prevention.
About half of the cause
of suicide can be attributed
to stressors such as depriva-
tion, so talk of solutions must
include focus on these. Put
together with deprivation as a
cause of a wide variety of socialG
ET
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AG
ES
TO ENTER Send your captions for the photo above to [email protected],
with “Caption Competition No 334” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries
can be posted to “Caption Competition No 334”, NZ Listener, Private Bag 92512,
Wellesley St, Auckland 1141, or submitted through listener.co.nz/win.
Entries must be received by noon, Tuesday, June 4.
THE PRIZE The winner receives a DVD of Oscar-winning Green Book,
in which an ex-bouncer (Viggo Mortensen) drives an African-American
concert pianist (Mahershala Ali) during a 1960s tour of the US South.
Caption Competition {[email protected]}
Donald Trump: “My handicap is just
terrific it’s so much bigger than
yours.” – Elise Graham, Whanganui
Tiger Woods: “Sure, I can get you into
the 2020 Masters.” – Alan Petrie, Te Anau
Woods: “If this award is for graduating
second at Trump Golf, who came
first?” – Steve Cox, St Albans, Christchurch
Woods: “You’re the President,
of course your swing is better.”
– Mike England, Orewa
Trump: “Winner’s tip: shoot 5,
shout “fore!”, score 3.” – Phillip Lynch,
Upper Hutt
Woods: “Donald, can I have the
number of your wig ... er, I mean your
hairdresser?” – Rebecca
Sentch, Auckland
Trump: “When you play on my
course, you can kick the ball out of the
rough.” – Hans Zindel, Palmerston North
Woods: “Thank you, Mr President, I’d
be proud to lead the Tee Party.” – Dean
Donoghue, Papamoa Beach
WINNING CAPTION
Paul Kelly, Palmerston North
Well, at least
I didn’t also
cheat at golf.
ills, this factor must be prop-
erly prioritised, not confined
to suicide.
Suicide is an uncommon
event, whereas depression,
threats and gestures are
common in young people. Pre-
diction of who will actually kill
themselves is impossible and
attempts to sort out those who
will are futile and wasteful
of resources. Although there
are some promising leads, no
programme for prevention
or intervention has proven
effective.
We must not overlook other
important causes of youth
mortality and ill health, such
as accidents, alcohol, tobacco
and food abuse. All these share
social deprivation as a major
causal factor.
John Werry
Emeritus professor, University of
Auckland
REEDUCATING EDUCATORS
The Editorial on matters
educational was timely and
absorbing reading (“Lessons
being learnt”, May 25). The
Tomorrow’s Schools Report
released last December offers
similar challenging thoughts.
The education system is fail-
ing up to 20% of learners. Our
world rankings in literacy and
numeracy confirm this.
The report indicates that the
Caption
competition
FINALISTS THIS WEEK’S PICTURE