I sit here stewing in my change-of-season head-cold juices in the "wee small hours", rather than going to bed, so that I will not keep my wife awake with my coughing, sneezing, and any moaning I will inevitably do.

In the last few minutes, I have learned from the on-line news services that a prominent Australian politician attempted suicide late last night. (The police called it "self harm".) I'll leave you to read John Brogden's scandal behind how this promising young man was brought low in the 2 days before this event.

Another politician created what is now considered an Australian icon, Beyond Blue, "the national depression initiative". (Its electronic resources are open to anyone on the 'net.)

I've not heard whether anyone has asked Jeff Kennett, a former state Premier (i.e. head of state parliamentary government) whether he has suffered from depression. But, he was certainly thoroughly motivated to create this organisation after he left elected office.

Oddly, I attended a lecture yesterday at work regarding the approaches that can be taken to assist people with a mental illness to return to the workforce. We heard that 15% of people have a mental illness of some hue during their life. So, returning to work is impotant for self-esteem, as well as an organisation's productivity, to keep 'churn' to a minimum; therefore, wasting people who are a relatively known quantity, and have skills, makes little sense.

I can only imagine at what blues John Brogden went through in the last day, before the greys of the evening in his office's back room, and finally the black of unconsciousness took hold of him.

I wonder at what signs people did see, and whether any of them looked at the well-known Beyond Blue web site yesterday.

When all else is blue, or grey, or black, I think on the forever-ness of my God, and I can see the future stretching away in bright colours.

_____
Peter