Tomorrow (being September 12th) is RUOK Day https://www.ruokday.com This is a wonderful initiative to encourage people to check in on one another, especially those who are having a tough time.
Asking someone ‘Are you OK?’ is easy; replying ‘I’m fine’ is easier still. It’s our automatic and pat response.
Asking ‘Are you OK?’ should have the same gravitas and importance of saying ‘I’m sorry’.
For either of these sentences to be truly effective it has to said and asked with total integrity, honesty and compassion. If the answer is not ‘I’m fine’ then it is up to the asker to be like a rock in a river and let what is being said flow around them. To simply be there for them. To listen with both ears and heart, without judgment and without becoming an ‘arm chair general’.
A kind word, a hand on the shoulder, asking ‘RUOK?’ cannot only change a life it can save one.
Coincidentally (or not), yesterday was International Suicide Prevention Day, I heard the Chairman of Lifeline Australia speak and he said in 2011 there were around 640,000 calls asking for help. They predict that by the end of this year it will be around 880,000 calls. So it seems like a few more ‘RUOK?’s’ are needed.
So do your bit, reach out and ask someone that simple question.
