Dear Janus:

I  read the article, “The suicide gap: why men are more likely to kill themselves” (Aug 2017) and I just read the second of your two recent posts, about mice, and the book title Of Mice and Men came to my mind. Like mice and like other social animals, men too need social support: someone to be interested in how they feel and what they think, to ask questions gently, to listen, to not criticize men for feeling- and for expressing how they feel. Men need social support so that they do not experience social isolation and alienation. And so that men do not feel that the only thing people care about is that they fill in a role (most traditionally, that of a breadwinner), that no one cares about them otherwise.

Your poem is the most beautiful poem of all the poems you shared here, on your thread. I think that you should send it to HeadsUpGuys (the website out of the University of British Columbia that focuses on men and  mental illness), as well as to SickNotWeak, BroTalk and maybe ManTherapy (these are mentioned in the article you sent me).

“No matter how much hurt you face, know that you can never be replaced… Although it is never easy to heal, it’s important to allow yourself to feel. You’ve got this and friends alongside to help you when you feel like you’re sinking below the tide… You are more than enough and are loved and cherished for who you are, and I know you’ll go far”- it rhymes and is full of heart, it reveals your beautiful heart, Janus!

anita