Zdenek (Sid) Hanzlik’s suicide is a very sad event and may have been triggered by several issues but without doubt the main protagonist was the Family Court and Family Law. The slide into the abyss of despair through a life without perceived meaning for many fathers is the needless separation and complications, in regards to their children, arising from a system that overtly favours mothers. The law, and the administration of it, fails to acknowledge men’s existentialism and how it is tied to their connection with family. Sid may have believed that his death would have a dramatic positive effect on the way fathers are dealt with. Unfortunately he under estimated the power that feminist ideology holds over the media. His suicide instead will be seen as a violent act against himself.

I also, at a very low point in time, considered the same fate but was lucky enough to read  DR. VIKTOR E. FRANKL’s book of his life in Auschwitz and Dachau, ‘Mans Search for Meaning’
In it he states……

“A very strict camp ruling forbade any efforts to save a man who attempted suicide. It was forbidden, for example, to cut down a man who was trying to hang himself. Therefore, it was all important to prevent these attempts from occurring….

I remember two cases of would-be suicide, which bore a striking similarity to each other. Both men had talked of their intentions to commit suicide. Both used the typical argument – they had nothing more to ex- pect from life. In both cases it was a question of getting them to realize that life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them.

…A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how”. 

When Sid’s thoughts became dominated by his pain and sense of injustice he lost his balance. Unfortunately the Ministry of Health does not recognise suicide as a gender issue, despite the glaring stats, therefore there is no specific funding to deal with the issues that Sid experienced. I am determined to make changes in this area.

If you have children, no matter how tough things get, you have to hang on for them as it’s a responsibility you have to bear.