John Kevin Hines had been pacing on the Golden Gate Bridge for 40 minutes in anguish, crying. If one person asks me what's wrong, I won't go through with this, he thought, over and over.Eventually, a woman wearing giant sunglasses approached him. "Would you take my picture?" she asked. The 19-year-old accepted the camera from her and clicked it five times. Then he snapped. The moment Hines released his hold on the 4-foot-high railing, he regained his grip on reality.
During the 4 seconds between jump and splashdown, he could think clearly. All the problems that had made him want to die moments earlier? Those seemed less overwhelming than a 220-foot plunge into San Francisco Bay. Oh, my God, I don't want to die, he thought. What have I done? God, please, save me. It's a prayer seldom answered. Since the bridge opened in 1937, someone has jumped from it every 2 weeks on average. Out of roughly 2,000 attempts, only 28 "failed."
The psychologist Edwin S. Shneidman, Ph.D., a pioneer in suicide research, once said that it's a bad idea to kill yourself when you're feeling suicidal. That's no joke: You're not solving problems well. You're unable to step outside your troubled mind. And those things make you a very, very dangerous man. Realization of the risk comes too late for many, from bottom-rung stragglers to men whose lives and achievements seem worthy of celebration, not self-termination.
Their final act perplexes family and friends. It saddens them, sickens them, and even angers them. And in the end, it worries the rest of us, too. Because any of us could be walking that bridge one day. The numbers are so gut-churning, it's like looking over a bridge railing. Nearly 26,000 men took their own lives in 2005. That's nearly four times the number of women who did the same thing, even though three times more women than men attempt suicide. (For every completed suicide by a man or woman, 25 attempts fail.)
Whereas a woman might swallow pills halfheartedly, a man is four times more likely to complete the act, mostly because men tend to use guns — and their aim is true. As grim as that sounds, it gets worse. Mark S. Kaplan, Dr.P.H. who researches suicide at Oregon's Portland State University, believes the suicide death toll may be up to 25 percent higher than officially recorded. Many single-car accidents seem mysterious. When an overdose occurs and toxicology results are ambiguous, as in the case of Heath Ledger, was it a tragic accident or an exit strategy? Some medical examiners will certify a death as suicide only if the victim leaves a note, and yet only about 20 percent of people who kill themselves do so. Sometimes insurance companies pay the survivors less or nothing at all, in cases of suicide. The denial of friends and family is a factor, too: It's less painful to think a loved one didn't die by his or her own hand.
This is what stress will do. It will make you commit suicide. Some people just can’t handle it.
They just can’t seem to get a grip on life and all its problems.
They don’t realize they have a sense of humor that can actually save them. That can make them realize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope.
When you laugh it off, it’s so much easier to handle.
All this stress is brought on by the government. That’s right, the smartest minds in America have created this mess that our country is in, but you don’t hear of them committing suicide, do you? No of course not. And you shouldn’t either.
When the going gets tough, the tough start laughing.
Things will get better. They can’t get any worse. You aren’t the only one who is going through this. We all are. Even the rich are feeling the pinch.
Just laugh it off and don’t worry about it. All worrying does is create stress and drives you to do something stupid, like kill yourself.
Believe me, the world is a better place with you in it. Remember that.
