Cry for help* - Rick Astley

Channel 10 newsreader Charmaine Dragun was successful, intelligent, talented and popular.

The 29-year-old seemed to have it all - a loving family, a long-term relationship and a stellar career as a prime-time news anchor.

Yet on Friday the "beautiful and bubbly" Dragun jumped to her death at The Gap - a notorious suicide spot in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

(read the whole report here)

When i read about her suicide a couple of days ago (from the report here), i felt rather troubled. There were 2 things which disturbed me.

The first was the thought of how many people are like Charmaine Dragun - and how many of those will follow the unfortunate path that she chose.

It just goes to show how some people can be so good at putting up a facade, having a mask on all the time, when behind it tears flow and pain reside. Success and popularity can never bring contentment and satisfaction.

More often than not, we see the swan gliding effortlessly and gracefully along the surface of the water - we never see how it is kicking furiously and at times, frantically below the surface just to keep afloat and keep moving.

It is so sad that whatever was getting her down was so great that it literally pushed her over the edge.

How much do we need a reason to live, a purpose in our lives.

The second which disturbed me was the report of her "friends" who have now all come forward to speak well of her. They talk now of her brave battle with depression. My question is where were they when she finally caved in? If they knew of her serious depression, why did they not do something more? Get hep for her? Make sure she doesn't wander off to suicide areas on her own? Don't we all owe it to our friends to be there for them, esp in time of need? Isn't it too late now to talk about how she was "determined not to let (the depression) to control her" when it clear now that it did?

One of her colleagues (not one of those "friends") was quoted saying "No one had any idea how sad she must have been. People are now wondering if we should have taken more interest in what was going on in her life."

Is there anyone that we need to take more interest in their lives today? It's scary to think of what may happen if we failed to make that effort and time just to find out how someone is doing. I've gotta keep reminding meself of that - and maybe if we spend more time and interest in other people, we may just be able to hear their cry for help before its too late.

*His last major hit, it featured a gospel choir arranged by Andraé Crouch.