APPEAL… Fr Brian D’Arcy
‘ANY life young or old is worth an infinite amount because it is the most precious gift in the world’.
That was the summation of Fr Brian D’Arcy, speaking on mental health and suicide this week.
The rector of The Graan in Enniskillen described the feeling that suicide had become almost an ‘epidemic’ – and urged that it is ‘not the way’.
“There would be no day here that I’m on duty that some parent wouldn’t come from some county, and each of them has the same idea, that it has become almost an epidemic in their county,” said Fr Brian, yesterday, Tuesday.
“It’s not just Fermanagh, and I think we need to make sure that we don’t confine it to Fermanagh, because that in itself can have an effect on Fermanagh young people who are finding it difficult.”
Fr Brian spoke of the importance of speaking to people. Be that as someone with a problem, or as a person who sees someone with a problem.
“My experience in dealing with people who are suicidal is that once they get someone to listen who can appreciate the value of their life, and convince them that adding another problem to a family is not solving a problem.
“We don’t know why people take their own lives, so therefore many of us are guessing. And the longer I go on in life that’s the way I feel. There are some cases where there is an obvious mental illness which can be treated by professionals, but there are other people that seem to carry a burden within them that nobody knows about – and that’s the most difficult one of all.”
Speaking of growing up, Fr Brian said that he can recall just one incident of suicide. He described it as a ‘rarity’ at that time.
He said that it appears that the more it is spoken about, the more that people see it as a way out of a problem. He reiterated that it isn’t.
“The world is worse off for every life that doesn’t live its full potential. We’ve got to get in the way of saying: Everybody has problems in life. Secondly, people who sell dreams need to be careful; if they sell an unrealistic dream to somebody they might be destroying that person; and thirdly I do think we do need to talk clearly about the preciousness of every life. But also, the lives of families which in many cases end on the same day. The future they had as a family as a unit has ended.”
He went on: “We have got to come back to a stage where people can feel free to live lives even though they may not be perfect; but live wholesome lives that don’t have perfect. Most of us go through life saying that my life is dominated more by failure than achievement, but it has still been a useful life.
“A general unhappiness can be a way of suggesting to us that the road we’re on is not the right road. But that doesn’t mean there are not other roads that could be different.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere