It is an iconic structure. An engineering masterpiece. A triumph of human ingenuity and muscle over the elements. A symbol of San Francisco. The West. Freedom. And something more. Something almost spiritual, but impossible to describe. It’s the Golden Gate Bridge and it’s where more people choose to end their lives than anywhere else in the world. The sheer number of deaths there is shocking, but perhaps not altogether surprising. If one wants to commit suicide, there is an eerie logic in selecting a means that is almost always fatal and a place that is magically, mysteriously beautiful. Almost two dozen people a year are reported to end their lives by jumping off the bridge which spans the San Francisco bay. Although official figures aren’t published, in order to not encourage potential jumpers, it’s estimated that roughly 1,300 unfortunate people plummeted to their deaths 200 feet below the bridge. Want another startling fact? Every day, 89 people commit suicide in the United States. This tragic act is the 11th leading cause of death in America. And studies show that more than half of American college students have considered suicide at some point in their lives. As life, or rather death, would have it...the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, for all its beauty, or maybe because of it, has always attracted those poor souls who saw no point in going on and decided they might as well make their exit spectacular.
Inspired by a 2003 article from New York Magazine entitled "Jumpers", written by Tad Friend, there is a documentary that was made a few years back that you may or may not be aware of. It’s titled "The Bridge" and it has been surrounded by controversy since it was released. The New York Times calls it "One of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made...remarkably free of religious cant and of cozy New Age bromides. Eerie and indelible." I have the film, but I have yet to watch it. One of these days I will, but for now, it’s a topic that hits too close to home. I hope I’m not the norm in having a family member and a best friend who committed suicide. And I hope I’m not the norm in knowing countless other people who have either attempted suicide or considered it. Even I have battled bouts of severe depression since age 11, which led to "things" – let’s just leave it at that.
I’ve seen suicide from both the outside and the inside. It’s hard to put into words because the pain is indescribable. However, it needs to be put into words. Perhaps we needed "The Bridge" to paint us the visual for when these words escape us. This grim and very taboo topic is something I’m all too familiar with, but a topic that I really think people should talk about. People need not to just talk about it. They need to see it to really feel it, because God forbid they have to experience it firsthand. If people refuse to open a dialog up and shed some light on the subject, then in the dark is where it will remain. It shouldn’t be a dirty, little secret we hide and refuse to acknowledge, but that is exactly what it is.
People suffer largely unnoticed while the rest of the world goes about its business. "The Bridge" is a documentary exploration of the mythic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide destination in the world, and those drawn by its call. Director Eric Steel and his crew filmed the bridge during daylight hours from two separate locations for all of 2004, recording most of the two dozen deaths in that year (and preventing several others). In addition, the director captured nearly 100 hours of incredibly frank, deeply personal, often heart-wrenching interviews with the families, friends and witnesses of these suicides. The film raises questions about suicide, mental illness and civic responsibility as well as the filmmaker's relationship to his fraught and complicated material. It offers glimpses into the darkest and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind. The fates of the 24 people who died at the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 are linked together by a 4 second fall, but their lives had been moving on parallel tracks and similar arcs all along. "The Bridge" is a visual and visceral journey into one of life’s gravest taboos.
Suicide doesn’t discriminate. It affects men and women of all walks of life, both young and old, and of all races and religion. And after decades of debate, the Golden Gate Bridge board of directors has decided to install safety netting (AKA, a suicide net) 20 feet below the bridge’s deck. The net, made of metal wiring coated with plastic, will catch any jumpers and allow rescue teams to easily untangle them due to its design. It is made to partially collapse around anyone who jumps into it, thus preventing the person from re-jumping and completing their mission. The 3.4 miles of netting will cost between $40-50 million dollars, so the project isn’t expected to be completed for several years. Sometimes all suicidal people need is a certain amount of time to stop and reflect in order to change their mind. San Francisco is hoping this net will do just that.
I have mixed feelings on the suicide net. And of course this raises a very real religious, legal and moral debate. If someone is about to kill themselves, should you, would you, could you stop them? Trust me, you do not want to have the "shoulda/coulda/woulda" argument with yourself after the fact. By then it’s too late and you can’t bring them back. There is no mulligan. No second chance. No do-over. It’s a done deal and you are left with the "what if" questions that will haunt you until the day YOU die. But that is YOU. What about them? What about what they want? If there was no net, would you stop me from jumping? (This is a hypothetical question.)
