For my first TED Talk reflection, I watched "The bridge between suicide and life" by Kevin Briggs.
Sergeant Kevin Briggs is a retired Police Officer whose post just so happened to be centered around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. The talk is deeply emotional as it goes in depth on some of Kevin's experiences stopping people form jumping the iconic bridge.
The bridge is said to be suicide-proof by its chief engineer, Joseph Strauss. Even so, over 1,600 people have jumped to their deaths from the bridge since 1937. The bridge was designed to be symbolic of California, not a cemetery.
Before going in depth, Kevin states that once somebody goes over the ledge, it is very hard to get somebody back to the other side. I know from personal experience that just saying a few nice words can't sway someone towards life on the balance against death.
The first experience Kevin tells his audience about is a young, intelligent man whose name is Jason Garber, an intelligent 32 -year old man who had flown to San Francisco twice before to commit suicide on bridge. After about an hour of talking to Kevin, Jason asked him if he knew the story of Pandora's Box. Zeus created Pandora and sent her down to Earth with a box, telling her to never open the box. When curiosity got the best of her, Pandora opened the box and the evil things of man, such as sorrow and pain, flew out of the box. The only good thing that came out of the box was hope. Jason told this all to Kevin, and later asked him "What if you open the box and hope isn't there?" With this, Jason Garber jumped to his death.
Afterwards, Kevin pulls out a letter from a woman who lost her son to the bridge on January 19th. She told Kevin about the pain she felt and then thanked him for standing up for all of the people who are too scared to tell people what's really going on inside their minds, and the pain they feel. What's amazing to me, is that this woman had the courage to have her words spoken in front of an audience.
A man that Kevin sadly wasn't able to save was a young man named Jason. Jason stood over the railing, looking down for most of the time. The man looked up on three occasions, all to give Kevin a handshake for conversing with him during this dark time. Kevin asked the man if he'd like to give life another shot and come back over to the other side of the railing, but Jason looked at him, said thank you, and replied with "Kevin, I'm sorry. But I have to go." Jason then let go of the railing and was free.
The last experience was from a man who seemed to have no hope, Kevin Berthia. He stood over the railing on March 11th, just about to jump, when Kevin Briggs stood next to him on the other side. Letting the man speak, Kevin Berthia realized that today was not the day we wished to leave the world. Briggs asked him why he chose to come back over the railing, and Berthia responded with "you actually listened, you let me speak." To this day, Berthia is now a contributing member of society, a father, and an open speaker of his depression and pain all throughout his suicidal period.
This TED Talk has taught me that suicide is not just a number, but a deep feeling. It's personal. If anyone is suicidal around us in this world and we know, we must seek help to relieve their pain. We have to let them tell their story, let them talk.
Don't just tell somebody why they shouldn't end everything, give them a chance to tell their reasons, and you respond with why not.