One of New York's biggest tourist attractions is reopening after it closed temporarily due to multiple suicides. The new measures that they will enact for suicide prevention include an entry fee of $10 (it's open for free from 10 am - Noon), all visitors must have a buddy and cannot enter alone, and they will triple security and staff will be trained in looking for suicide ideation signs.
It's a welcome sight for tourists and New Yorkers alike, but the bare changes leave a bad taste in my mouth. I don't expect the developers of Hudson Yards to pour money into Mental Health services, but this highlights my biggest problem with a lot of policies and guidelines in America. A lot of what we do, especially with suicide ideation, is prevention at the absolute latest level. These measures are there to prevent people who have suicide ideation and who are looking to attempt it. These measures do not prevent it at the earliest level, i.e., free and affordable mental health services for all, more training and curriculum in schools focused on mental health, more trained psychiatrists and therapists. Of course it costs more, but the best way to prevent suicides and help the greatest amount of people is to provide resources for everyone in all aspects of their lives, not pouring resources into security and staff training to stop people when they are in the most need of help. This isn't just an issue with mental health services either. This is an issue where we pour money into prisons to house incarcerated people instead of putting money into avenues that could stop crime before it happens, actually benefitting people. Or more money into police forces instead of putting money into community services or infrastructures. Or banning paper straws and plastic bags instead of focusing on the larger issues that cause the most damage to the climate. We are so focused on spending the least amount of money to benefit the least amount of people. I really wish we had large scale change that addresses these issues at the earliest time in everyones lives. Stopping people from jumping off the Vessel in Hudson Yards is a good step. But that doesn't mean that people aren't still hurting. The people who need help the most may find other ways to take their own lives. And that's unacceptable. We need large scale reform in every area that impacts society. It's irresponsible to wait until the last possible moment.
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I've had asthma since I was three and had to get rushed to the The Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, strapped to the gurney laying on top of my mother because I was too little, attached to a Darth Vader breathing machine. Ever since, if I feel my lungs constricted, I just take two puffs of my inhaler and I'm back to walking up the stairs or whatever task is making me feel weak. Without doing any research into the history of asthma (blog post about this pending me not being lazy), I'm just going to go ahead and assume that our ancestors with asthma just couldn't live. "Oh Timmy Jimmy Johnny Boy, you can't breathe when you're pushing the cart across that field? Or you get a cough when you're playing spin the wheel down by the mountain lion den? Oh well, I guess you'll have to read and be the smart one of the family." "Elizabeth Marie, your chest hurts when you're in the hot kitchen? Well, there's nothing else you can do, so I'm disowning you." I keep imagining the scene in the cinematic classic "Madagascar Escape 2 Africa" when Melman thinks he's terminal because he has an extra spot, so he digs himself a hole in to die. Honestly, when I've been caught without my asthma inhaler, this feels like the most comforting solution. Timmy Jimmy Johnny BoyIf we're not being as drastic as digging our own graves at 3 years old to accept the sweet release of death, what other solutions could they use? Drinking herbal tea? Have the family donkey perform CPR? Cutting off your big toe to make that pain greater than the pain in your chest? While these are viable solutions, I find them only temporary. Again, I'm wrapping around to giraffe graves as the only way to accept a major asthma attack.
And asthma's just one medical issue on the table. A pretty mild one at that. Dudes with lung cancer definitely need to dig a giraffe grave. Someone who has kidney stones should probably just cut out their entire digestive and reproductive system. Accidentally got an arrow sticking out of your knee cap? That's now part of your anatomy. The moral of the story is the next time I have to use my asthma inhaler provided free of charge by my mother's health insurance, I'll just think about Timmy Jimmy Johnny Boy having to spend his long life of 21 years sitting by the fire place reading about Gilgamesh or something and be thankful I was born in this time period. A few days ago, I started lamenting the fact that I've never been in a relationship longer than a year. "Ugh, how am I going to spend the rest of my life with someone?" I thought to myself. But, in a moment of pure wisdom and maturity, I realized that I've spent 25 years in the most important relationship: with myself.
It's not revolutionary at all, people have been writing about self love for generations. For me, it was important to just remind myself of this fact. After a hard break up, I've been falling into moments of doubt about my future love life. I've felt moments of loneliness, craving the romantic love that I was receiving, and giving. When this lightbulb went off that I've spent 25 years in a relationship with myself, growing and changing, it was a much needed reassurance of my strength as a human (not physical strength, of course, I don't pose much of a threat on that front). I believe this goes for everyone on this planet, whether they're single or taken or "it's complicated." No matter the relationship status, we all have the monumental task of taking care of ourselves and treating our bodies and minds with respect. We all deserve it. We spend 24 hours everyday together (I did the math on this one). We owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves right, to explore the things that make us happy, to take care of ourselves. |
Rob EnglishJust a kid from Pittsburgh trying to figure out my place in the world and write some things along the way. Archives
February 2024
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