Thread: Drive to bring down male suicides

I'm having difficulty reading this...
It's just not natural...

Suicide is the most common cause of death in men aged under 35.

and

Men are nearly three times as likely to take their own lives than women.

and then, reading this line almost made me wet myself in shock

...the friends and family of the victim...

but seeing the following statistic made an impact, I've not looked into the figures before, so seeing so many die came as quite a surprise

...more than 1,300 young men still took their own lives last year...

just one year... Very sad, very sad indeed. Only yesterday, I awoke to the sounds of choppers going overhead, back & forth, back & forth, until roughly 1pm. They were so close; you could see detail on the bottom of the helicopters. I didn't recognise them, but my wife informed me they were the coast-guards'. Neither of us gave it much thought. Until later that day, I was in a local garage waiting to pay for some gas/petrol. The cashier & the customer ahead me discussed the tragedy of a young 20-something man who had gone through customs on the "Bluewater Bridge" (connects to Canada), stopped and jumped. Later we were in another shop, and again, the customer ahead discussed briefly the shame of a man who felt he had no alternative but to end his misery. No one knew why. I doubt we'll ever learn. I felt bad for him. Just prior to departing England in February, a 22 yr old man jumped from a multi-storey car park in my hometown. I was in a cafe, literally down the road within eyeshot, when it happened. The road was blocked off, a helicopter circled above for a good hour.
At such numbers; 1,300+ men, all under 35, killing themselves, that equates to in excess of three-and-a-half men every single damn day. Forgive my taking it personally, but this truly sickens me. So much wasted; so much joy those people bring into another's life; so much energy - all squandered for the sake of despair and a system that largely ignores their good deeds of a daily basis. This is truly sad.
One thing that should be done, but won't, is the government agencies that hound men into this corner with a poisonous potion of prejudice - should be called to justice.