The Bridge
(photo from El Frito under a Creative Commons License)
Recently I watched this HBO documentary called “The Bridge” about the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The bridge is said to be one of the most popular suicide locations in the US and even in the world.
They say about 2% of people who try to commit suicide off of the bridge actually end up living. I guess they were able to land feet first and somehow deflect some of the impact on their body.
Survivors were asked what went through their mind after jumping before they hit the water. Almost all of them said it was at that moment after jumping that they realized all of their problems in life were solvable. Well, except for the problem of having just jumped off the bridge.
Life has it’s ups and downs, good days and bad days. We can’t control the hand we are dealt; we can only control how we play our cards. It’s the down moments that makes the good moments so wonderful. No matter what problems may be going on in my life, I try to think, “Is this fixable?” Fortunately for me, most the time the answer is yes. It helps me not take most things too personally. I don’t spend much energy worrying about the traffic on the freeway, or people who don’t like me for whatever reason, or politicians doing what they’re doing.
Just being able to wake up every day is a blessing. Every day is a new challenge and a new opportunity and I’m extremely excited to see what comes next.
