Whanganui letters: Mental Health Awareness Week a reminder to care for ourselves

Jamie Rickards and Rana Aston from Balance Aotearoa have organised a free concert at Whanganui's Majestic Square on Sunday, September 17 for Mental Health Awareness Week. Photo / Bevan Conley

OPINION

With the world in some disarray, that fact alone is perhaps causing many of us to experience heightened anxiety and uncertainty, not only regarding how the future of the world may unfold, but more personal issues relating to our own mental health and balance.

With this world circumstance as it is, Mental Health Awareness Week (starting September 18) is returning our focus to our own lives and [acts as a reminder that] who and what is important to us is a necessary priority that requires our attention, not just in this significant week, but henceforth in our lives.

For all of us, a reminder that we are responsible for our own personal choices and what we can control is important because the events that take place in the larger worldview are beyond the control or responsibility of any individual. Yes, we all play a part in the bigger picture, but what happens globally is not our sole, personal responsibility.

If we want to have a say, then the elections are looming, but always, I believe, the emphasis [should be on getting] ourselves in order before perhaps contemplating solutions for the wider picture.

If we did that, with genuine self-care and regard, maybe the bigger picture would appear less foreboding. Then, very possibly, with the rest of humanity likewise in sync, global issues may naturally improve because we, as citizens of this planet, will be better placed to care for it and each other.

PAUL BABER

Aramoho

Education shouldn’t be a political football

Thank you to Alice Wilson and Simon Wilson for their very informative and factual articles (Opinion, September 13).

The leader of the National Party, Christopher Luxon, would be well-advised to get his facts right before using education as a political football for his own purpose. I call it scaremongering tactics - typical of the National Party. Mr Luxon, on many issues, has spouted off before getting his facts correct. For him, it is all about getting into government, not about what he can do for the country. He shows a lot of ineptitude. It is just a pity that the previous National government didn’t see fit to keep the salaries of teachers, doctors and nurses increasing on a yearly basis. Nine years of neglect in education, health and infrastructure by Sir John Key - [it’s] very hard playing catch-up. Not to mention the selling off of state houses.

The election leading up to this Labour Government’s tenure was all about their lack of experience and how they wouldn’t know what they were doing. Mr Luxon and his team are really lacking in that department now - the bottom feeders are going to be pushed into greater poverty to help the middle squeeze.

No government can wave a magic wand and get rid of inflation. New Zealand is a very small country at the bottom of the world - if we disappeared, who would notice? We are reliant on and affected hugely by what is happening outside our shores. The world is having it tough, not just us. We are lucky, and so much better off than many other nations.

BRENDA O’LEARY

Whanganui