Editorial | Editor-in-Chief | Issue 6, 2015

What to SayIssue 6, 17/11/2015, Brian ConmyThis week really sucked. As many of you may have seen or will see later in this issue, the Express received what amounted to a cry for help from a student experiencing mental health issues. While the person was responded to promptly thanks to the insane sleeping pattern of our designer Rob and then talked to again by myself when I awoke to some startling notifications, we felt it was right to honour their wish to have the thoughts and feelings they had expressed in their email published. The story was picked up under a slightly unfortunate headline by the Irish Examiner and had Apple not graciously announced so many new jobs in Cork we wonder if that day wouldn’t have seen mentions of the letter in other local or even national media.We always want news pieces or stories from the Express to go viral, it helps our reputation and it is an ego boost I should admit. Not like this though. The thoughts and feelings expressed by this anonymous person to us at those early hours of the morning resonated with many I’m sure judging by the outpouring of sympathy and well wishes we received towards the person, both publicly and privately. On a personal level I can relate to that note in more ways than one. Seeing those deeply personal thoughts written down, not really knowing what to say to this person I didn’t know on the other end of a computer/phone screen as they emailed me was terrifying. Not only out of fear for what may happen but forthe constant fear I have that one day I too will fall back to that place this person found themselves in, seemingly hopeless.But as this person noted, while things may not always get “better” we as a race have a tremendous tenacity for learning to live on. As I write this I’m still watching a 24 hour news channel, all I’ve done since the tragedy in Paris began other than work my sales job and do college work. Things seem bleak now and many of us, myself included, may be afraid of what comes next. However one need only look at the outpouring of support for that anonymous student writing an email in a time of need and see that love and support mirrored in the actions and words of so many towards France now in its hour of need.

“It will get better, but it won’t go away”

Be good to one another.