Finally, something to say.

I've been in creative exile while my camera has been stuck in another state for 2 months. It's a shocker. And it's not over yet - but nonetheless, something crazy happened yesterday which has spurred me on with something to say. Read on.

Yesterday I was driving along in Wollongong with a friend (and her 2 year old in the back) when we spotted - actually, swerved around - a woman who on first impressions was hitchiking in a kind of odd way. i.e. in the middle of the traffic. After we drove past I was looking back at her to see her jump in front of a truck - who also, somehow, swerved across the other side of the road to miss her.

We decided we should go back so we drove around the block and parked a little way away. We wanted to keep the 2 year old safe should anything go pear shaped. And I walked up to her to ask if she was ok and if I could do anything for her.

The short part of the story is that this poor woman was terrified (of a bloke who just got out of jail who decided to appear and start yelling at us) and she just wanted to die. I asked her if I could take her somewhere safe and she said there is nowhere safe. That's when the man appeared. He wanted her to come with him and told me to bugger off because "you don't know anything and nothing's been going on".

The woman handed me her mobile phone and asked me to keep it. I tried to give it back, saying she'd need it, and she said "no. Please hang onto it for me".
And then she left with the man.

What to do, what to do. I didn't want her phone. I didn't even know what to do with it. But on some level, maybe she gave it to me so that I'd do something. Or maybe she just wasn't thinking clearly. Anyway, with some skepticism I went to the police. You know, the serve and protect people. The community people. Yeah, excuse my attitude.

I went to the police and told them the story and that I was concerned about her, I knew her name and the taxi number they went off in, and I was handing in her phone. The police officer said "You shouldn't be talking to people like that in the street. People with mental illness can be dangerous and they have diseases".

OH MY GOSH. Can you believe it. Since that time I have thought of a number of responses to that that might have been more effective than the disbelieving silence that I felt. Though I did point out to her that I know a bit about mental illness, and this woman was not in any way having an episode. She was scared and sad and wanted to die. That means she needs help, yes, but it does not make her dangerous or diseased or mentally ill.

What's happened to our society that I'm not able to stop on the side of the road for someone who wants to die? Isn't that part of the problem? Isn't the reason she wants to die because nobody is caring for her or looking out for her or asking her if she's okay? How could I possibly get a disease from her by caring, and if I did, is the cost then too high?

It could have gone pear shaped. I get that. Yet if she was unstable I would have called the police. And she wasn't. She was just at the end. She didn't know what to do and thought death would be better.

Man, I have a LOT to say about this but think I will stop there. I can't help wondering about the Good Samaritan story. For that one story there are a gazillion that didn't make it because no one ever stopped. Or the police told them it's "their business".