Loss of stories, loss of life

Consider a predicament described by I. K. Zola:

There I am, standing by the shore of a swiftly-flowing river, and I hear the sound of a drowning man. So I jump into the river, put my arm around him, pull him to shore and apply artificial respiration. Just when he begins to breathe, another cry for help. So back into the river again: reaching, pulling, applying, breathing - and then another yell. Again and again, without end goes the sequence. You know, I am so busy jumping in, pulling them to shore and applying artificial respiration, that I have no time to see who the hell is upstream pushing them all in.

The number of Australians killing themselves each year reflects disturbingly on our culture and social structures. To occupy ourselves with 'artificial respiration' risks ignoring the fundamental causes of a deep social despair.

Australia faces a major problem with its youth in spiritual crisis. Too many choose death rather than continue lives without meaning, lacking stories to give strength and hope.

Australia's suicide statistics are dramatic and alarming. Research shows that in 1988 one in six male deaths and one in nine female deaths between the ages of 15 and 19 years was due to suicide. Dieskstra's survey of 19 countries indicates that Australia has the second highest rate of suicide among males, most being adolescent deaths. Recent research in New South Wales by Dudley and Lohse highlights a number of causes: economic downturn, unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, the breakdown of farming communities and a loss of identity and self-reliance leading to a desire to leave home prematurely. Many young people are marginalised from mainstream society by unemployment, chemical dependence, sexual abuse, petty crime, family breakdown or homelessness. Eckersley suggests that one by-product of industrialisation is a society increasingly hostile and harmful to young people. In his view, what is missing is an essential 'mesh of values and beliefs that hold [our culture] together and sustain its members through the trouble and strife of their personal lives'.

The 'mesh of values and beliefs' is the stuff of stories. Myths and narratives are held, nurtured and retold as they pass from generation to generation. At least this is the way it ought to be. Storytelling helps young people to construct a world-view and 'define who they are and what they believe, a context that would give them a positive, confident, optimistic outlook on life or at least the fortitude to endure what life held in store for them'.

Eckersley is right. By contrast, marginalisation is loss of contact with stories that value life. Devalued individuals come to be labelled as vagrants, delinquents, psychiatric patients, single mothers, prisoners or just plain nobodies. We ignore and avoid marginalised people or watch them dispassionately on television screens. Marginalisation is rootlessness, a social 'black hole'. A combination of negative and sometimes life-threatening experiences will produce a level of despair and angst that cannot be contained. Certainly we can offer services to those in danger of killing themselves: detox centres, refuges for the homeless, counsellors to help young people improve their self-esteem. Support networks for families who have lost a member to suicide may prevent further deaths. But the problem will not abate until we tackle the causes. Unemployment and drug addiction are only symptoms of an ailing social structure. It is time we listened to what our alienated youth are telling us about the state of the world. Such marginalised young people do not form part of the economic model that dominates our political thinking. But they are part of our future. Australia faces a major problem with its youth in spiritual crisis. Too many choose death rather than continue lives without meaning, lacking stories to give strength and hope. The enormous demands of our fast- changing world and its technology are killing the bodies and spirits of so many young people, just as they are devastating the natural environment and our once rich fabric of human culture. Homelessness and marginalisation are as much a product of spiritual poverty as of material need.

UNIYA Comment Those who hold that every human life has a dignity, destiny and sacredness, sometimes speak about 'a consistent ethic of life'. They challenge the 'culture of death' which allows war and the arms trade, other violence and terrorism, state sanctioned cruelty (including torture and capital punishment), and which sees suicide, abortion and euthanasia as ways of resolving issues. Many of us avoid facing life's choices by turning away from the human experience of poverty, hunger and disease (including HIV), and through the consumption of drugs. More than ever we need to encourage 'a culture of life' which puts forward a future full of hope for our youth. This requires policies which divert resources from the international traffic in arms, and challenge economic social development models which harm the poor. It requires policies which create opportunities for meaningful commitment rather than anomie and dispair, policies which promote realistic and morally appropriate alternatives to interventions which cause death for whatever reason and at whatever point that life exists. And it requires policies which develop carefully an ethical context for medical experimentation and genetic engineering. Because these issues are so important and complex, ours is a ministry of reconciliation. Rational arguments should occur in the middle ground rather than by polarising opinion into the extremes.

Instead of rushing to call in police or doctors, government committees or charitable agencies, psychologists or clergy, we would do better to sit down with our children and tell stories together - our stories and theirs. They, and we too, need tales of belonging and light and colour, myths that can recreate the world and give it meaning and substance once more. Youth suicide demands more than short-term rescue of individuals drowning in emptiness. As Zola saw, we need to search upstream to see 'who the hell is pushing them in'.

Above material is from the Uniya Newsletter: used with permission.

The Cardoner, © Copyright 1995 by Jack Otto.