Well, it's been a while?

I logged in to my Myspace this morning looking for this blog in particular. I was interested in all the others I found as well. Maybe I'll post those to Facebook sometime. They're an interesting read to say the least. Anyway, carry on.

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Oct 20, 2006

Four Seconds to Suicide

Okay, don't freak out! It's not me, it will never be me. But I'm watching 20/20 and it's a story about documentary film maker Eric Steel who filmed actual suicides and suicide attempts off The Golden Gate Bridge in San Franscisco for the year of 2004. Critics say what he's going is a horrible thing. They say his film will cause the number of suicides to increase. His intent was to document the human spirit in crisis. He's trying to prove the point that bridge authorities should have a suicide barrier - meaning they should correct the mistake first made on the bridge and raise the railing. He's trying to put reality in the face of the people who maintain that bridge, that they can save the two dozen people that die that way every year. He and his crew filmed 23 of the 24 suicides that year and saved 6 people, one of whom they saved several times by having their own cell phones programmed to speed dial bridge authorities.

I cannot even begin to imagine that life could be so bad that one could stand on a bridge and hurl themself off knowing life will be no more. Reportedly, it takes only 4 seconds to hit the water after jumping. Falling the 25 stories gets you up to 75 miles an hour and your body shatters when you hit the water. There have been a recorded 1200 suicides off the Golden Gate since it opened in 1932. Thousands of people walk and drive along that bridge while this happens. Do they just keep going when they see someone jump?

What got me the worst was that the people who attempt and fail are manhandled to the ground, handcuffed, and carted off. Do they not understand that these people need help? Their lives are spinning out of control, the last thing they need is to be thrown in jail. It might put it off a bit, but it does not help them, it does not stop them. The part that wrenched my stomach was when Steel described the moment of impact. He said that there is a huge splash ... and in a matter of minutes, the ripple of that person's life is gone as though it had never been. The water smoothes over and the traffic and weather continues on.

How sad is that? And are the aesthetics of the bridge more important than stopping the successful suicide that occurs on average every two weeks? The Golden Gate Bridge is a tourist attraction in all it's beautiful glory. It is also the number one suicide destination world wide. I never knew that. And I wonder if all the souls that are left there are somehow at peace.

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Four years later, I, am, here.