Are your friends OK?
Is your family OK?
Have you asked them?
And even if you have, how do you really know they’re OK?
Sometimes they can surprise you.
Some people will say they’re OK when, clearly, they’re not. One day, they could be happily posing for photos, enjoying their popularity and earning a very healthy salary. The next minute they deceive a nation and sign themselves into 5 ministries while trying to hold down the job of Prime Minister.
They’re not OK, but you didn’t see the signs.
You should have guessed when they committed Aussie treason and switched footy teams midway through life in a desperate attempt to be more popular, but you didn’t. Perhaps you gave this person the popularity they so desperately craved and are thus an enabler. Ask yourself, R U OK?
You might only find out when it’s already too late, when this once mighty man has already lost his job, his popularity and his relevance and only admits to mental health problems and medication once his book has been published and the hectic publicity campaign is in full swing.
Sometime you just never know.
Even the toughest humans can suffer mental health issues. Yes, even the heroic warriors who chase pigskin suffer mental health issues, but if no one asks the question, the public is only told once they’ve been caught snorting cocaine, stalking young children, urinating in public, harassing a woman or decking a bouncer.
Our heroes are not OK.
It is imperative to ask because some people will do anything to escape their reality.
These people will shut themselves off from the world. They will go to such extreme lengths as to build a tunnel under their Vaucluse mansion at a cost of $2 million after forking out $25 million for the property. They will even endure the mental anguish of battling Waverley Council for the right to dig their tunnel designed to shield them from the cost-of-living crisis and the endless hardship of life in the Eastern Suburbs.
Did anyone ask this couple if they were OK?
Most of us seek solace in our family, but not everyone has that luxury.
Some adults are clearly spurned by their offspring and are forced to find comfort in their pets. They are so desperate for love that they pamper their pooches with clothes, gourmet dinners, accessories and massages, and sometimes not even that will suffice. Thus, they build their pet a Versace-draped house, complete with an outdoor doggie shower and a pool.
So, when you see people caressing their canines, committing footy follies, vanishing from Vaucluse or sporting a smirk, don’t forget to ask them if they’re OK.
First published in The Beast magazine, October, 2024
Image: Getty Images
kieranblakewriter 