Perspective

[erikred]

From a New Yorker article on Golden Gate Bridge jumpers:

'As he crossed the chord in flight, Baldwin recalls, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped.”'

(Found thanks to a Fresh Air interview with Nick Hornby about his recent novel, A Long Way Down:

"He said that he realized very quickly after jumping that there was only one thing wrong with his life and that was that he'd just jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.")

Comments

[mkb-cbr.livejournal.com]

An ex of mine used to say that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

[mkb-cbr.livejournal.com]

Almost everyone in the Bay Area knows someone who has jumped...

Um... no.

[palecur.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go with 'comically incorrect factoid pulled from capacious arse' for $400, Alex.

[palecur.livejournal.com]

It's so pleasant to see 'chord' used correctly, instead of after 'spinal' or 'vocal'.

"everyone knows someone"

[lara7.livejournal.com]

according to the article, the bridge has been open 68 years and had 1200 leapers. That's an average of only 18 a year assuming no years are way more "productive" than others. Then he says "Every two weeks, on average, someone jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge"- either we just lost 16 weeks a year, or he needs to make a better guess than 1200 as the total death toll.

in 4 years I never knew anyone to jump from the bridge, btw.

Re: "everyone knows someone"

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

OK, thank you. My head hurts right now so math is too hard for me, but I was sure that the "every two weeks" figure was off.

Re: "everyone knows someone"

[erikred.livejournal.com]

I was going to try to tell you so, Maneater, but you'd already erased your comment. :(

Go slowly on those icons before they go to your head!

[tagryn]

For the morbid among us, an article about a "suicide bridge" in Akron, OH. The twist is that for the most part it's built above people's houses, not the river, so the bodies end up in people's backyards.

I agree with the sentiment that suicide doesn't end the pain, it just transfers it to others.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

In this vein, i highly recommend Sleater-Kinney's song "Jumpers", off their new album.