Saturday, April 30, 2016

000 #atozchallenge

"‘How does that sound?’ said Cassy. ‘Is that what you want? Will that prove that I care? Will that be enough for you Angus? What else can I do?’
Those were probably rhetorical questions, but even if Cassy expected him to answer he wasn’t going to attempt to fight her fire with fire. He needed an extinguisher. He thought about calling triple zero. He thought about hugging her. He thought about running away. His head pounded. He knew he would have to allow her to fully expel her rage, but he feared what extra vitriol may spew out.
‘Is that what you want Angus?’ His silence was addressed tersely. ‘Is it? Is that what you want from me to show that I care. Isn’t this enough?’ She gestured to the pot, then threw her arm towards the living room. ‘Isn’t this enough? A home. A family?’ Then she started to cry.
Still in shock, Angus watched the warrior disintegrate into a little girl. Cassy shrunk right in front of his eyes, shriveling into ragged grief. ‘What happened to us Angus?’ Explosive sobs. ‘Where did we go?’"
Lovesick chapter 9

Triple zero is the number for emergency services in Australia. Dialling 000 will connect you with a person who will ask whether you want the police, fire brigade or an ambulance.

Unfortunately, I had occasion to call triple zero for an ambulance last year, on successive nights no less. My problem was severe abdominal pain which was eventually diagnosed as being the result of a kidney stone. It was subsequently removed by the champion urologist, Dr.Paul Kovac.

Emergencies are frightening and disturbing, but at least in the case of a crime, a fire or an accident you can call for help and it will come. Emotional emergencies aren’t in the scope of triple zero services, except when they escalate into violence. I wonder how many of the calls the emergency services receive stem from emotional emergencies, or mental flip outs. The guy who was arrested near Braidwood in NSW, two days and 3 hours drive away from Bundeena where his partner had been found dead courtesy of being beaten with a cricket bat, was probably having some sort of emotional crisis.

Our emergency services generally only deal with problems, but I wonder how can we prevent such problems in the first place. Is it possible? Maybe triple zero should also give people access to crisis prevention services.

8 comments:

  1. Three '0's simple enough to remember. The ones in Germany were so complex, and out where we live (in the boonies) we don't even have 911. So you're right, no emergency is the best! Congrats on completing the challenge!

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  2. I remember that from when I lived there! I have never had them, but I've been told by numerous family members that kidney stones are many times more painful than giving birth. I've done neither, so I take their word for it.

    It's been a pleasure to meet you and I will continue to follow your blog. No more A to Z for me either

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    1. Ha ha. I would never tell a woman who'd had a baby that my kidney stone was evenly remotely comparable on the pain scale. Like wise and ditto re meeting you and following your blog.

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  3. Here it's 911--which is a LOT more complicated than entering 0. But I guess it's harder to hit 911 by accident?

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    1. Was that pun intentional Stephanie? Some Australians inadvertently dial 911 probably because they watch so many American movies and TV shows.Thanks for visiting Square Pegs and for taking the time to comment.

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  4. Ha ha, it's posts like this that make me feel so ethnocentrically naïve. Of course different countries are going to have different emergency numbers. There's a joke we used to tell when we were kids, "Quick what's the number for 911?" I guess if I were in Australia, I'd be asking that very question as a dumb American!

    Great post, thanks for visiting my blog. :)

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