A CONVERSATION CAN CHANGE A LIFE
R U OK? inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with the people around them and start a conversation with those in their world who may be struggling with life.
You don’t need to be an expert to reach out – just a good friend and a great listener.
Use these four steps and have a conversation that could change a life:
- Ask R U OK?
- Listen
- Encourage action
- Check in
Today, is R U OK? Day, 8 September.
A day when we are reminded to check in with the people around us. To have a conversation and see how they are doing. If you’re not sure what to do, or how to ask, there are great resources at the R U OK? website.
We were chatting about it at the library and I was thinking about a beautiful book I read in the lead up to Children’s Book Week, a book I had intended to review but ran out of time to do so. I felt like it was connected to R U OK? day and not just because it made me cry, though it did, and has every time I’ve read it since, but because of the reassurance in the book, the reminder that there are people who are there for you even when you’re not sure there is anyone. That person might be holding your hand while you’re feeling unsure and insecure. It’s a book around remembering it’s okay to ask for reassurance and that we offer that reassurance to the people we love and care about. Perhaps, you’ll find it a comforting read too.
Bear and Rat by Christopher Cheng and Stephen Michael King
This book was part of the Notable list for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Awards – Picture Book of the Year.
Bear and Rat are the best of friends who do everything together, but Rat wonders if Bear will always be there to hold her hand, no matter what happens…
This book is a series of conversations between friends, Bear and Rat. Rat asks questions like “Will you hold my hand as you read spooky, scary stories?” and “Will you hold my hand when I am sleepy?” and “Will you still hold my hand if I do something really, really bad?” and Bear always responds with a yes – “Of course, even when you snore really, really loudly.”
I don’t think I have ever read a book that so well encapsulates the feeling of comfort in someone who loves you and accepts you and who just responds with care to our need for reassurance like this book. That is the beautiful part of the book.
Towards the end it does turn heart-breaking, though just as beautiful, when Rat asks: “What if I have to leave and go somewhere you can’t come?” Even now, this makes me want to cry just thinking about the perfect response that was written in the book and how all encompassing it is for grief.
I would encourage everyone to read this book. Even now, it feels so connected to R U OK? though I do wonder if it’s just because I want to show it to someone and say this is how I’m feeling…this book says it all.
When you are rat and someone was Bear and now you’re Bear and you miss them so much…but I also feel that the book also shows that way that memory comforts.
