Today was one of the more interesting days I have had this month. I did not expect anything out of the ordinary and yet I definitely did not have an ordinary day.
The first incident that stood out was at work. A professor came in to our office because one of her students had passed out in her classroom. The dean went over immediately and called the health center so they could come help. Well, the girl had donated blood on campus just prior to her class and I am guessing she did not sit and have enough of a snack before she headed over. The dean came back and was looking for some type of juice, which there was not anything. So, I gave him my vitamin water. He went back and returned shortly after with a sigh of relief because they were able to get the vitamin water in to her system and she began to come back to consciousness.
The second incident was on the way home. As I was driving down the road I stopped at a light on a freeway overpass. I looked over and saw this guy on the sidewalk, near the middle of the overpass. He was knelt down and I just felt prickly feelings on the back of my neck. I looked ahead of me and there was a CHP officer giving someone a ticket. I glanced back and the guy was beginning to climb the fence over the freeway. I did not know what else to do, so I honked a few times which got the officers attention. He looked over and then saw the man. He quickly told the people to wait and ran over and tackled the guy to the ground. This could have ended terribly.
So, what does this leave me left to think about? Life, really. Tomorrow. Gratitude.
While some may believe it was the choice of the man on the bridge to climb over and jump, it really is not his right to end his life, regardless how terrible life may be. First, many people could have died had an accident occurred when he fell. Second, there are people who care about each one of us and it is a selfish act to take your own life to end the pain. Life is best dealt with with your chin held high and your mind set on a goal. Death means nothing to those who go through it, because they are gone. But to those who are left behind, the real pain is felt with unbridled guilt, pain and loss.
Tomorrow is not a guarantee for any of us. Do not live in fear of tomorrow, live as though this was the best day of your life. It may not seem like the best day of your life, but your life can change permanently within the blink of an eye. Do not waste the opportunity to better yourself by ending your life. Make a change, however small it may be. You could be saving another. Do not look for satisfaction in things, look for satisfaction in your own moral character. If you are unhappy with your moral character, strive to improve the parts you do not like. This is a prayer unto my own moral character as well. I do not want to be known by the “stuff” I have, but rather how I treated other people. I want to be remembered as someone who fought hard and worked against the struggles I have faced. I do not want to be remembered as “the girl who couldn’t handle the pain.”
And for the people on the other end of that situation: do not take people for granted. If you see something different in someone that appears to make them withdrawn or depressed: talk to them. Get them help. Be there for them. Love them. Do not criminalize them, please do not do that.
