The Final Leap (24 page)

A young man contemplates jumping while Bridge Patrol and California Highway Patrol officers try to coax him back to safety. They were successful this time; however, several years later he returned to the bridge and jumped.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

Kevin Hines is one of the few people to survive a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. Today, he travels around the country educating audiences about mental illness and advocating for a suicide barrier.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

Dr. Mel Blaustein pins an orange suicide barrier ribbon on Mary Zablotny, who designed the ribbon after her 18-year-old son jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Blaustein, a psychiatrist in San Francisco, treats people who are stopped from jumping off the bridge.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

“Whose Shoes?” is an exhibit of footwear commemorating the more than 1,500 victims of Golden Gate Bridge suicides. It's topped by a pair of World War I boots in memory of the first known jumper, a WWI veteran.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

The body of a Golden Gate Bridge jumper is brought to shore by Coast Guard crew members. It's a thankless job, one they didn't sign up for.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

As the person responsible for conducting autopsies of Golden Gate Bridge jumpers, Ken Holmes knows the physical impact of falling from a great height and the emotional impact of suicide on loved ones. He's a strong advocate for a barrier on the bridge.

SOURCE:
Marin Independent Journal

 

Dr. Sarah Cherny stands near the spot where her fiancée, also a physician, jumped in 2004. Afterward she learned that he had planned a surprise birthday party for her two weeks later.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

Renee Milligan visits the bench at a state park that was donated in memory of her daughter, Marissa Imrie. When she was 14, Marissa took a cab to the Golden Gate Bridge and jumped.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

In 2004, filmmaker Eric Steel set up cameras for a year and captured images of people jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. He was criticized by Bridge District officials for misrepresenting his intentions, and praised by suicide barrier advocates for bringing the problem to light in a way that couldn't be ignored.

SOURCE:
San Francisco Chronicle

 

Eric Hall (left), his two sons, and father were sailing on the bay in 2011 when a 15-year-old girl jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Hall raced to the dive platform at the back of the boat and lay halfway in the water to grab her, astonished to learn that she was still alive. He kept her afloat until the Coast Guard arrived; she survived.

SOURCE:
Contra Costa Times

 

1
. Bicyclists have twenty-four-hour access. Weekdays from 7
A.M.
to 3
P.M.,
when work crews are on the bridge, the west side is closed because that's the only side that workers can mount the rolling platforms. During these hours bicyclists and pedestrians share the eastern promenade. After 6
P.M.
during winter and 9
P.M.
the rest of the year, when the pedestrian walkway is closed, bikers can press a buzzer next to the eastern gate at each end of the bridge. Security cameras zoom in, and if the person has a bike, whoever is monitoring the cameras can press a button, which allows the gate to open. At the other end, the same thing occurs in order for the bicyclist to get off the bridge.

I'm an artist, and aesthetics are important to me. But beauty that takes lives becomes ugliness.

—Mary Zablotny, whose son jumped in 2005

Knowing that the Golden Gate Bridge is the most popular suicide site on earth, one is led to ask several obvious questions: Why doesn't it have a suicide barrier? Why, among the world's great architectural wonders, is America's most famous bridge the only international landmark that people can jump off of so easily? Why have the deaths been allowed to continue when, everywhere else, preventative measures have been taken?

The answer to these questions is tied to the public's attitude about suicide. For many people, suicide is morally reprehensible. It's against their religion, or against their culture, or contrary to their personal values.
¹
Like other unpleasant subjects—incest, disease, discrimination—it's avoided.

Some people believe that suicide is a choice, an individual's prerogative, and doesn't merit prevention or intervention. Further, persons who want to die should be allowed to do so; after all, it's their life. If they feel that it no longer has meaning, that they're worn out, or that they're a burden to others, they should be able to let go with society's blessing.

Overriding everything is the fact that suicide is so alien to most people—after all, the goal is to live longer, not shorter— that they believe it's impossible to dissuade someone who's intent on dying. This belief is a product of our Western culture, which emphasizes rational thought. We assume that all human behavior, including suicide, is rational when it's not. Some people are more likely to develop a mental illness than others, but all of us—regardless of gender, age, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status—have the potential to kill ourselves. This is what makes suicide so terrifying. Every person is a potential risk if his or her life spins out of control. As a society, we're afraid to acknowledge this, so instead we assume that suicidal people are different. We distance ourselves from them in order to protect us from a reality that we don't want to confront, much less accept.