November 17 - December 6, 2022

Men, We Have GOTTA Talk!

They say that one in ten of us endure some form of depression

They say that male suicide is our second leading cause of death

They say that most of us will not talk about this with anyone

They say that we're too fiercely independent to ask for help

and here, I think, is where an image of man, the stalwart hero

can impact the assessment of man, the normal human being

it's not for our independence that some of us don't talk about it

some of us have other, more human reasons for our silence

reasons like

indecision

we’re not sure if the problem is real or just in our heads

concern

we worry it might be something worse than depression

futility

we'd talk about our depression but few seem to listen

loyalty

we will not tell a stranger what we cannot tell a friend

betrayal

we've talked but have seen our words turned against us

perspective

we were in bad shape yesterday but today we feel okay

kindness

we don’t want to make ourselves be a burden to anyone

honour

we won't share our pain once we see the pain of others

see, we're not trying to be heroes after all, not all of us, anyhow

we have all sorts of very good, non-heroic reasons for not talking

about this thing sucking joy from our lives, or worse, destroying us