Mental Illness – A taboo subject – Part 4
I had attended a charity mini concert by one of my very good friend, Monique three weeks ago. It was to raise fund and more importantly to raise awareness of how important it is for all of us in our community to understand the mental health issues. In memory of her late uncle who passed away due to mental illness last year, I am dedicating my blog posts for the next few weeks to continue the message to spread awareness of this issue. I would like to focus on young people and their vulnerabilities.
The source of such tragedy may well lie at the doorstep of mental illness, a once taboo subject now thrust into the limelight of Hong Kong preying eyes. Depression and many other mental health issues, demand our community’s dedicated effort and focus, with a special focus on our young people. The helplessness of these young people is calling for all of us, as a global community, in addition to having compassion and empathy toward them, we must fight, on their behalf, for urgent attention and action from the public health system.
We have to move the curtain aside and shed light on mental issues, so depression, along with other crippling mental health issues can become a public policy debate and not something to hide away from. Every country has people who suffer from this, so this must be a global effort. As long as we fail to realize the impact it has on our communities, this silent, yet deadly disease will strike at those we love so dearly.
A Reminder To Those Who Forgot
Following the public announcement of the passing of the son of the Under-Secretary for Education, an extraordinary incident occurred at the Education University in Hong Kong. Two students, callously and with stunning disregard for personal suffering, chose to anonymously, deride and taunt Ms. Choi over her son’s death.
Whatever their political beliefs or grievances, this form of insidious bullying is beyond the pale. As adults (university students cannot claim ‘childish ignorance”), this far exceeds the bullying that children engage in. We must be capable of differentiating between public policy and personal bereavement. There is, or rather, must be, a minimum of basic decency and decorum. That minimum must include the innately human compassion for a fellow soul’s broken-heart that should permit us to rise above the behavior of the beast. I appeal to all young and still impressionable minds: do not be led astray by hate to abandon the very humanity that we are given by all who love us. Do not forsake being a mensch for empty political slogans or dogmatic philosophies that forget one simple truth: all things in life require empathy for our fellow man. The people we look up to with reverence – Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, all have one thing in common — they placed human dignity as the centerpiece. Whatever our policy differences, can we take the back seat in such moments, and respect the grieving with simple decency?