Golden Gate...

Last weekend, I was led to San Francisco for a fraternity event. While running half naked down the Golden Gate Bridge, we were encouraged by crowds of clapping and amused attention. Terrifyingly enough however, only thirty feet away someone committed suicide by jumping off the bridge. It was striking how some people can enjoy themselves so much in one place, but someone else could be so despairing that they give up on life altogether. This person had given into a temporary solution for a long-term problem. Upon discussing this with a friend of mine who had lived for some time in San Francisco, it turns out that suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge is extremely common, perhaps as frequent as “once or twice a week.” This issue is discussed in a recent documentary entitled, The Bridge; the filmmaker originally set out to glorify the Bridge, but upon finding out about the frequency of suicides, he re dedicated the film to explore this controversial issue within the city itself. Only in America would men like Dr. Kevorkian be persecuted for assisting suicide while nothing is being done to prevent the large number of suicides that happen on that monument in San Francisco.