The continual suicide of young men and others in this country should be of great concern to everyone. Why we should be asking does Tasmania in 2006 have the highest rate of suicide in Australia? The question needs to be asked, have men in general become enslaved? Have they became removed from nature, which kept them connected to feeling? Zorba the Greek would not be easily found among contemporary men. They seem to be enslaved and somewhat castrated.
Traditionally men would get up in the morning and go off to work, often menial, but still they felt there was a purpose. Today there seems to be little prospect of employment. Many men today feel that they do not have much of a chance to make their way in the world. Historically men had to be tough and weren't allowed decenting feelings. This I think has suited a lot of women to some extent. As feminism has progressed western women seemed to be throwing off the role that was allotted to them, this I think has yet to happen to men. They are still carry so much expectation and misunderstanding. It hasn't been easy to be male through the feminist years.Nearly ever week one is constantly told all men are rapists, pedefiles and exploitative in the media or verbally. All men are pigs, blah, blah, blah!
While we must recognises the truth of some of that, this is not good enough, it doesn't help men to adjust at all, it has made them retreat into themselves. Many men have lost their nerve, but I hope not all, they need to raise up against these assertion, not against women, because they need to love women and care for women, so women aren't the enemy. Maybe it's consumerism, the ethic of everyone for themselves, we have forgotten to respect and help one another. Maybe it's all of these things, that the system has enslaved not only men but everyone.We have been turned into work units; an economic unit that must just keep earning all this money to keep the system on track. Most men don't have the option of working part time, not if the want a job and don't want to be looked down upon.
It's not as if our current system is serving us well, if we had marvelous schools, hospitals and life was humanistic and fulfilling, then lets all work hard. But what we have is all this work and distress and debt for what? So you can watch some cheap video, eat junk food and watch your neighbourhood fall apart.To visit shopping centres full of plastic junk, noise and carelessness. Both men and women need to define themselves anew. Men often define themselves in some way or feel connected to this world by their skill, their dexterity, the way they make things, do things. But they are becoming more useless it seems, more enslaved, more trapped. Many sit at desks, they have to look good, neat, pressed and their hair's got to look just right along with their age just to stare at screen all day. Beyond a certain age they are not even offered a chair. This regimentation is appalling, so what does this do to the human spirit?
When do you get the full sense of being who you are? Many men like being in the dirt a bit, getting their hands dirty or something like that. Then what about sex? I mean why does no one mention sex when asked what they most like to do? That's an important thing, I like sex, I like eating, I like going to bed at night , these are fundamental things to being human. They are central and important to our lives. I like gardening, digging holes. I like to build and construct something. I like to paint and create things, to leave some mark of my existence in the world. I think these things are sacred and common to all of us.I think people have become deprived somewhat by modern life: the chance to be of some clear value to society or to another person.
Men generally don't have friends, at least in countries cursed by Anglo-Saxon traditions in the way women do.In Australia we have what is called mates with whom we share straight jacket agreement on which subjects we never discuss. So one is really only left with women to whom you discuss subject concerning the heart or soul. This is a major problem. Could this be why men outnumber women in suicide? What we want are men able to shift gears when needed, which is a considerable skill. Men who are intimate and sensitive on the one hand, but are able to go to war if need be. Such toughness for some reason is still needed in this life.
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