The Christmas Season

Now that the Christmas season is behind us for another year let’s take a

look at the 2005 Gympie edition, this year our Christmas Dinner with

close friends was to include five adults, no children attending.

We got together on Christmas Eve a little after lunch for a drink and to

discuss any last minute changes and generally enjoy ourselves, which we did.

About three hours later the bubble burst, one of the five received a

phone call that shattered our Christmas, the call was to inform her that

her youngest son had committed suicide.

He was a young man of 32, married with three young children, sadly his

marriage had broken up 4/5 months before, and one can only assume that

the thought of Christmas without his family became more than he could

bear.

This all took place in a remote little settlement in central NSW where he

had gone for work, because of the remote location, and the fact that it

was Christmas Eve coupled with another fact, that the death was not from

natural causes, the law said there had to be an autopsy and an inquest into

cause of death.

This led to delays of unknown time before the release of the body for the

cremation that had been decided on.

Meanwhile back in Gympie where we were trying hard to celebrate

Christmas and provide some support for a friend, because of the

circumstances outlined above there was no point in her returning home

where she would have been alone, she had lost her husband in September.

We did, despite all of this manage to have a wonderful meal with very

good company, but imagine how much better it would have been without

that huge shadow over one of the group.

As I write this the body has still not been released, imagine the trauma

this is putting our friend through, she has since left Gympie after

promising not to go home alone, so she is waiting anxiously with other

friends for the final act of this terrible story.

I have a son who is a High School Chaplain who has been involved with

2 suicides and another couple of unsuccessful suicides, he passed on the

cheerful news that suicide can be contagious, with one leading to another

as people are dragged through emotional hell with deaths of friends.

It seems also to be a well documented fact that the “festive” season is a

time that emergency staff at hospitals and police personnel dreads

because of the family and personal crisis that goes hand in hand with

the season.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we are in our summer season, this

presents it’s own set of problems, mainly, but not exclusively, in the

southern half of the country there are often horrific bushfires, again

as I write, there are serious fires burning out of control in three States,

remember we only have six mainland States.

Our population is very much clustered around the coastline, as water

sports play a huge part in our lives, this almost inevitably contributes

more drama, there are many dangerous rips at our beaches, these and our

constant search for relief from the heat in dams rivers and the beach

contribute many drowning each summer.

In the northern parts of Australia we have the monsoon, (or wet) season

this often brings with it major flooding with associated huge costs and

hardship.

It is also the cyclone season which at times can be devastating for the

areas affected

Interwoven with all of this we have the summer holidays and Christmas

season, as one might imagine this can be looked on with a sense of

foreboding, especially for the ones who have experienced some form of

tragedy, which has taken the joy out of what should be a joyous time.