Day 244 to 252 – The Stranger on the Bridge

In March 2011 I was driving home from our Chapel when I came across a man and a woman on a road bridge. The woman had climbed over the safety barrier and the man was speaking with her ... a classic attempt 'suicide' scenario.

I stopped my car and went to the blind side of the woman so she could not see me and hoping not to provoke her into jumping. I wanted to get near enough so I could hear what was being said and to take some positive action if required. I knew the police were on their way and I was quite content to keep everything calm until the police arrived and then hand it over to them.

Before the police arrived the woman became very agitated and her body language indicated to me she was about to jump. I looked at the man’s face and could see a look of horror appear and I thought, for the first time in my experience of these matters, that this woman was actually going to do it!

I made a grabbed for the female and, with the help of the man, pulled her back over the safety rail.

The police arrived and we gave our contact details and left the scene.

Yesterday, I met up with that stranger again, as we were both given a Commendation by the local Police for our actions on that day. Over my 30 years in law enforcement I have often been in situations like that and, to be honest, I am pretty use to it. But this young man had never been involved in anything remotely like this and when asked, by the Local Police Commander, why he stopped his car and went to the aid of the women. He simply replied, ‘It was the right thing to do.”

If only all of us were inspired to do things in life simply because it is the ‘right thing to do’, what wonderful World it be … and what a hero I met on the bridge that day.

This weeks kind acts to others, that I hope were inspired by the ‘right thing to do’, included:

8 x Gave a big smile and a hello to a stranger
8 x Gave cash to a charity
76 x Proactively ‘gave-way’ to other drivers
4 x Picked up rubbish in the neighbourhood
1 x Did some community service
6 x Held the door open for someone
15 x Proactively ‘gave-way’ to a pedestrian
2 x Put neighbours bin back after the bin men had been

2 x Gave cash to a street beggar

1 x Gave First Aid to a collapsed male

Sub total: 123
Running total: 2607

Target: 3000+ in 12months

Commenced 30^thNovember 2011

Motivation for ‘’My Ten-a-day’

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”