“I love you… and I’m done.”
These words said by a man sitting quietly in a chair, hunched over a note in his hand, strikes a painful chord.
A new PSA (Public Service Announcement) by Movember Foundation features men reading out suicide notes they’d written. These are words which could have reflected their last moments if they hadn’t spoken to others and received help. Today, even as they have the courage to reflect on this, these letters are strong enough to shake them, to bring some of them close to tears. And this brings us to an all-important question: with suicide rates among men rising through the years, why aren’t we talking about it? Why do we sell the idea of the stoic man, unable to openly discuss his emotions without somehow failing some ideal of ‘masculinity’? Toxic ‘masculinity’ is literally killing men and it’s time we sit up and realise this.
