GUEST BLOG: Alex Pirie – Pursuing a Decent Society with Black Dog Snapping at Your Heels
A decent society is what most people want. We might have different ideas of what that is but I know many readers of this esteemed site are working towards their version of a better world.
Some of you may also be able to relate to the second part of the title. One of the most frustrating things that gets in the way when you are passionate about a cause and eager to be actively involved in helping it flourish, is when you get a visit from black dog.
This foul beast of despondency and despair affects people in different ways when it shows up. For some, it lurks in the shadows and nips at their subconscious when they least expect it while for others it is there front and centre, all bristling, energy sapping malice. Black dog is different things for different people and often manifests itself differently for the same person each time it visits. Visitations vary in length from fleeting to much longer periods.
In my experience I am not always consciously aware when I get the first inkling of self-doubt or pang of anxiety. I am lucky, often things do not progress and black dog is banished by my psyche. Not always though, sometimes I might be feeling more vulnerable due to a difficult life event or an unpleasant experience which produces the negative feelings that are the juicy steaks that feed and embolden my mental captor.At these times I need extra support from loved ones and outside sources to back up my (so far) very persistent stubborn streak that does not allow depression to win in the end.
For this I am appreciative, I am one of the lucky ones. Depression is often an invisible illness and many who battle it are not so fortunate. This is why, at least in part, I am so passionate about creating my version of a decent society where people who struggle with different aspects of life are supported, advocated for and treated with compassion rather than mistreated and marginalised.To create this society we need to work with each other, for each other.
Lusk is the problem, not his labradors.
Didn’t John Palino look like he had something seriously dodgy to hide?
So the GCSB won’t be investigating John Palino, Luigi Wewegi, Bevan Chuang and now Simon Lusk and his dodgy connections then?
Join the dots people
Nicky Hagar’s Dirty Politics Volume 2 should be prepped and ready to go
So true, such a good piece,
We are all vulnerable at some stage.
Thanks, it is something that needs to be talked about more openly.
Thanks for writing that. I know the current political environment in this country has a profound effect on my psyche.
Thank you for commenting. Yes, hopefully the dark days will soon be over.
Worse yet the government is targeting not the gang members themselves but fairly, friends, and aquaintances.
If you could show me a kiwi that was wholly disassociated from gang members by that criteria, I’d be able to show that that person was a newly landed immigrant. Three degrees of separation or less is the NZ norm, so what National proposes is mass surveillance of every body.
Note no new legislation is required, current law allows anyone of seventy or so government agencies to surveillance you and your friends in your own home if it is considered likely that legal activity is occurring – no warrant required just authorization by an executive officer. The only issue is that Police do have a tradition of exercising warrants and the government sees this as an impediment to Police authority.
I’ve been visited regularly by my black dog throughout my life. My precarious emotional health is one reason why I’ve dedicated myself to a life a mostly unpaid activism. I have to spend my time doing things that seem meaningful if I want to remain functional. I admire those who can cope with years of spending 40-50 hours a week stacking shelves, flipping burgers, or cleaning offices for the benefit of the privileged elite without going stir crazy, but I’m just not one of them.
The support of whānau and friends helps, and I’ve been lucky to get affordable counselling at times through organisations like the Youth Health Centre in Ōtautahi (now defunded and closed) and the People’s Centre in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (also now defunded and closed). I really worry for my daughter’s generation who are setting sail into an even more precarious and unequal world, with more social pressure to conform to the neo-liberal status quo, and even less support services available.