Why Am I So Alone?

“Since all the world is but a story,
it were well for thee to buy the more enduring story,
rather than the story is less enduring”

The Judgment of St Columba of Scotland

We live in a time where our modern comforts are better than the kings of old.

We are told anyone can achieve their dreams, attain wealth and security.

Our politicians proclaim our economy and lifestyles are better than ever.

So why are we killing ourselves in record numbers?

The Black Dog Institute state that 65,000 of us make a suicide attempt every year. 75% of successful attempts are made by men, and Indigenous Australians are about twice as likely to die by suicide. LGBTI Australians are up to 11 times more likely to attempt suicide. Almost 45% of us will experience a mental health issue in our lifetimes, and in any one year 1 million will suffer from depression, and 2 million from anxiety.

The Australian Psychological Society report that 1 in 4 of us will experience loneliness, and that 30% of us will feel friendless.

Take heart, friends, because this is not a sad story, corporate profits are up, and you can buy happiness in the form of the latest gadget, drug, car, or brand name clothing accessory.

So why isn’t that working? Why are people lonely, depressed, disconnected and unhappy? Why hasn’t competition and accumulation of wealth benefited our society? Aren’t we the ‘lucky country’?

Isn’t it true that competition is king?

If we look back at history, and we apply the well known maxim that ‘those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it’, we will find that the ends of all great empires are mired in a top heavy aristocracy with little regard for the common man.

We have learnt to laude men for their wealth and not their social contribution. Why do we give the ‘Order of Australia’ to the well connected, and not those that open their homes to the needy, the destitute, the victims of violence and poverty?

When societies first emerged they were based on a common good, working together to enrich all aspects of society, so that all may prosper. Our modern society lauds those that accumulate wealth, irrespective of the damage caused to society, the environment, their fellow man.

As we have moved to a post-industrial work force we have learnt and believed the story that the best wins, and in the immortal words of ABBA that ‘the winner takes it all’. I will crush the competition and be lauded by my peers for the fact that I have done so, and made more money than you.

When did we become so callous? When did we disregard our brothers and sisters, only concerned for our own wealth?

If you believe, as the conservatives will say, that we cannot afford to take care of our fellow men and women, I ask you to consider the following fact. By 2020 we will become the foremost exporter of gas in the world. Our gas royalties in the last year were $600 million. By contrast, the gulf state of Qatar made $26.6 billion in royalties on a roughly equivalent volumn.

$26.6 billion. Yes. Think about how that might benefit the Australian people, the vulnerable, the destitute, the sick, our brothers and sisters. Why instead is it going to a corporate pocket?

I’m reminded of a statement from the Vice President of the US in 1977 “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

So, why are you so lonely? Because the system made you so.

                                                                                                          Anonymous