Suicide seems to be the leading cause of violent and unnatural death in New Zealand, outpacing automobile crashes. And who knows, some of those crashes may have been by suicidal drivers?
The tragedy of suicide being the leading cause of violent death is indicative of wider issues - that people are feeling more alone, unloved and isolated than ever before. The family as the basic unit is typically smaller and smaller, too often down to one parent, few siblings and relations living further apart.
Make an effort this week and every week to reach out to the people you care about, and tell them. Does some-one you know need some attention? If you can't get to them, then try praying for them. What do you have to lose?
Related Link: Suicide Tops the Figures
Related Link: NZ suicide Trends
The tragedy of suicide being the leading cause of violent death is indicative of wider issues - that people are feeling more alone, unloved and isolated than ever before. The family as the basic unit is typically smaller and smaller, too often down to one parent, few siblings and relations living further apart.
Make an effort this week and every week to reach out to the people you care about, and tell them. Does some-one you know need some attention? If you can't get to them, then try praying for them. What do you have to lose?
More people took their own lives than died in road crashes in the past year, new coroners' figures show. In the year to the end of June, 511 suicides were reported to coroners - 1.4 self-inflicted deaths a day.
KIWI WAY OF DEATH
The number of violent and unnatural deaths referred to coroners in the year to June 30:
Suicide 511
Vehicle accident 424
Drowning 101
Head injury 66
Homicide 64
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 50
Related Link: Suicide Tops the Figures
Related Link: NZ suicide Trends
It puts murder in perspective - awful as that is.
ReplyDeleteIt is a tragedy how many people feel so hopeless in their lives.
On a related note, a while ago I was speaking to a cop on a social work course I was on, and she said that those with religious faith dealt with issues and got over criminal acts far better than others. They don't get vindictive like some people - they forgive and move on.
Certainly with regard to the Elim School tragedy and all other crime -be it road or otherwise - that seems to be correct.
If you can't get to them, then try praying for them.
ReplyDeleteHow does praying for them work?
In mysterious ways Rex.
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest that just because you may not believe in prayer, doesn't mean that there isn't something there to discover.
Suggest anything you like, but until you have proof then that's all it is - suggestion.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, I prayed for a bike, then I found out god didn't work like that so I stole a bike and went to church to confess and be forgiven.
Why should anyone have to pray for a good outcome if god is love and wants good outcomes? Surely god already knows a person is hurting and suicidal, but it seems he doesn't give a shit unless lots of other people beg him for help.
Sum god that is!
Better I forget prayer and continue to help and support my friend who has just lost a sone to suicide - god isn't offering any help. Thank god for Man!
Suggest anything you like, but until you have proof then that's all it is - suggestion.
ReplyDelete* Proof is there, just not in a way you can currently understand it.
As a child, I prayed for a bike, then I found out god didn't work like that so I stole a bike and went to church to confess and be forgiven.
I rest my case. Unfortunately, you show a lack of understanding of prayer, confession and forgiveness. Everything that follows also indicates a basic misunderstanding of this.
The upside is, should you ever care to learn about it, you may find something good you didn't expect :-)
Why should anyone have to pray for a good outcome if god is love and wants good outcomes? Surely god already knows a person is hurting and suicidal, but it seems he doesn't give a shit unless lots of other people beg him for help. Sum god that is!
No, that's your interpretation on how God should work, and because he doesn't, your conclusions are self evident. However, this doesn't fit with Catholic theology.
You keep blaming God for other people's actions. It's not about God, it's about us.
Better I forget prayer and continue to help and support my friend who has just lost a sone to suicide - god isn't offering any help.
Thank God for Man!
Your last sentence (corrected) shows hope Fugley :-)
As I explained in my post, if you are in a position to help directly, you should do so.
Pray to God for the grace to help in a positive way, and remember that God gave us free will. It is only by exercising free will our actions are truly our own.
What if God expects people to participate in caring for others, in thoughts, prayers AND deeds? What if the act of praying for things beyond your own selfish desires (a bike?) opens you up to being more compassionate and more caring of others?
You really are a graceless little person Fugley--you succeed in missing the point, insulting others unnecessarily and demonstrating your ignorance all in one short comment.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a religious person (at least, not in any sense you'd be likely to understand) but even I can see that praying for someone is more than simply asking a favour of God.
Lucyna and Zen will doubtless point out my clumsiness or error here, but surely the act of praying itself--when directed towards a fellow human's pain and suffering--is a lesson in humility and compassion, an acknowledgement that all things aren't necessarily amenable to human desires and abilities?
Prayers for another are an expression of our own humanity and fallibility and frailty--and goodwill, among other things.And the act of praying with others of like mind is to affirm a common bond of mortality and hope.
You'll pray one day Fugley believe me, and when you or someone you love dearly is in such dire straits you're in for a surprise--there'll be someone or something home.
This, from Francis Porretto, a brilliant man I admire deeply (and there are very few people I admire):
ReplyDelete"But they who give themselves fully to these celebrations of love and worship grow with each repetition. Indeed, the repetition itself, even if indulged tentatively and in a spirit of doubt, will draw the participant ever deeper into the spiritual themes imbedded in each prayer. It takes an actual effort of resistance, and a strong one at that, to deny oneself the lightening of heart and enlargement of soul they confer.
In other words, prayer changes him who prays; the prayer itself stays constant.
In reviewing the above, it strikes me that I might be accused of having made ritual prayer sound like a panacea. Nothing could be further from my intent. Life offers each of us many problems, both temporal and spiritual. One cannot solve them all through prayer; it would be arrogant to imagine that one could.
But given the many aspects of the life journey that try one's soul to its stops, that leave the traveler exhausted and desperate for surcease, isn't it marvelous that a balm as soothing and costless as ritual prayer is available to us?"
http://www.eternityroad.info/index.php/weblog/single/frans_sunday_ruminations_the_helix/
(apologies for the long copy and paste)
Nice stats, Zen! (though I expected you would have chucked in abortion figures to give an even more dramatic context ;) )
ReplyDeleteOne would hope suicide would get appropriate funding and support structures put in place, given its significant place in the unnatural deaths, but ...
It would be interesting to see a break-down of suicide by age/ethnicity/sex/mental illness, especially the latter. I have a horrible suspicion that the mass dumping of mental health patients into the community has not helped their life expectancy.
@ Fugley, humans having free choice would prevent God intervening to instruct us in what to do, wouldn't it? That is not the same as saying God doesn't care or won't help if we ask for it. I'm sorry to hear your friend's son took his life - I hope you can help them through this tough time...
Well said kg.
ReplyDeleteSquaredrive, these figures come from the coroner's office. It might be fair to at least include late term abortion in the violent death category. Any other figures would undoubtedly divert the thread.
Disease categories put heart and then cancer (all types combined) at the top of the list, far exceeding suicide and road crash.
Maori ethnicity is at the top of the list, and males are far more successful at suicide than female, who exceed attempted suicide figures. Hospitialisations for suicide number between 3,500 and 5,000 a year (4932 in 2004), with a trend upwards I think.
Our under 20 suicide rate is amongst the highest in the world, but the most suicides tend to be in the 20 - 35 male age group.
I've added a link to a Health Department document reviewing suicide rates in New Zealand to the post.