Dear Penis, the recent deaths by suicide ....

 

Dear Penis, the recent deaths by suicide of men are on my mind. In the last two months, I am aware of about seven deaths by suicide, five of men - four of them - men my age group. I know two of the men - men almost like me, connected in some way to community, Hindu, 50 + and who would have said 'okay' if anybody had asked them how they doing.

It seems like while dealing with the pandemic and the floods, that we continue to have deaths by suicide and that we are heading back to 2014 when Guyana had the highest rate of suicide in the world.

The society in Guyana had then tried to respond and there were groups and so who did public education work. Covid-19 and so on have probably limited some of this work now.

Dear Penis, are there more people who are thinking about, attempting  and dying by suicide that we know about? And is there a problem  and like most problems affecting us, your owners, we are not going to do something about it?

What the hell going on Penis? I learned a few weeks ago that while men and women in Guyana have similar rates of infection for Covid-19, that more men have died. Covid-19 and you don't seem to agree.

Data as 10 June, 2021 shared by Ministry of Health, Guyana

Dear Penis, I know that your owners can be stupid about health and well being. Today I fell down while doing the yoga. I decided to do yoga to try to make you get erect instead of viagra and for diabetes and so.. Dear Penis , and even though the yoga for you has not made me 'strong as a bull' , I got up and continued and felt good about it. Then later on had the delayed reactions to recover from.. it took awhile and there were some scary moments when I wondered if the fall had hit something else.. but all good now. 

And I think of the other owners of penises I know who tek knack, who tek fall , physically and mentally get up and continue until one day long after they stumble..

And as I think about the two men I know , and the other men especially managing mental health and feeling hopeless and preferring to die rather than admit failure and loss, trying to think Penis, even if the yoga does not work to keep you erect, what can your owners do apart from cutting you off so they can thrive.

And repeating and hoping that:-

• Let us take the shame out of having mental health problems. Let us understand that mental health problems are like other health problems and that management is possible.  Meshach Pierre has written on his blog about his mental health management. 
• Let us talk about masculinity and the masculinities which are destroying us. Last week, Shazam Somwar convened a discussion under his Project MENding Mindsets to break some of the silences. One of the young men on the panel, Junior Basant shared about his research into deaths by suicide and about the importance of good quality connections - and not just connection- with family and friends to manage mental health. 
• Let us learn to listen too so we can be helpful. Owning a penis should not mean that you cannot demonstrate empathy.
  
• Let us learn from women who are challenging oppression and questioning some of the oppressive social systems which are destroying us and the environment we live in and understand how a healthy environment is important for us.
• Let us look at how alcohol and narcotic consumption is destroying us (and our penises. )
  

 Dear Penis, I am stuck with you and even if you do not rise as often as I would like, you are always there and could make me do some stupid things. 

But I know that I could also do things which are about nurturing , caring and healing.

 

(In Guyana, the suicide prevention and mental health hotlines are  223-0001 or 223-0009,  call or text 623-4444 or 600-7896. or 655-7233 )