the stranger on the bridge

[aprilmoon]

Just watched this really uplifting story of a man searching for the person who stopped to talk to him as he contemplated jumping from the tower bridge while many just walked on.
Six years later,and now in a much better place and enjoying his life,he wanted to track down and thank him which he was eventually able to do.
His story has helped many other people who have found themselves in such a dark place,to hang on,and believe that they too,can become well again.
It showed how a random act of kindness can achieve so much :)

[Zeldagirl]

thank you for posting this. It brought tears to my eyes. I am in such a bad place right now and that helped. Hopefully it will do the same for others. I'm sure it will. I just want my life back.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think I can remember seeing that on the news when it happened. Can you, April? If not, maybe I read about it.

It reminds me a bit of the song by Hurts - Wonderful Life.

Was it a good programme? I saw it advertised but was out when it was on.

I just can't understand how people could just walk on. If I wouldn't know what to do I would certainly call the police and wait there even if I was panicking. I couldn't walk on and then deal with thinking about if I had just tried to help.

[aprilmoon]

Hi Terry
I don't remember hearing about it on the news,but the programme was brilliant.
He was a lovely man,he wanted to find the person who helped him,but also to encourage people to be more open about mental health.
On the day that he went to the bridge,he'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was finding it hard to deal with what was,at the time,severe mental health problems.
One of the few things he remembered about that day was this other person telling him that he would get better again,and it was a pivotal moment for him.
I can't understand either how people can just walk past.
Hopefully it'll be repeated soon.

[Carnation]

Just saw this tonight Aprilmoon.
It really moved me and was uplifting at the same time.
I certainly would not walk by, but I am also one of those people that have lost faith in the Human race, so it was encouraging for me to have seen this. :)

[pulisa]

I didn't see the programme but I couldn't have walked past either. There still are decent people out there, Carnation. I know it's hard to believe in today's grasping, materialistic society. I hate to see people suffering.

[MyNameIsTerry]

A couple of years ago, when I was still pretty bad, I was walking back with my shopping in the evening. Just around the corner from my home I saw something on the road and cars stopping then driving around it. When I got there I found a cat runover and unable to move. So, I picked him up and carefully moved him (with his other back leg supporting him) to the pavement whilst cars stopped annoyed at me in the road.

I left him there for a few minutes whilst I got home and my dad came back with his car and a towel for us to wrap him in. We got him to our vets as they are open for walk-ins and they took him straight away to the vet.

We rang them a couple of days later and they said he was fine after his operation and expected to make a full recovery. He was lucky because he had lost various fluids on the road and he wasn't putting up much of a fight. (I suspect wrapping him in one of our dogs blankets didn't help to calm him!) Luckily just one of his rear legs had been broken and no crush injuries.

People race up & down me street as its a cut through between main roads. He was lucky no one was driving like that or he would have been run over again. I can't believe how stupid people are though that they just stop and drive around and it makes me wonder whether they would do that no matter who was lying there!

[Magic]

This happened to my neighbours dog. the driver did stop though and was very upset.
The neighbour was new and did not know of where the vets was.
My husband took them to the vets we used to use.
The dog had treatment and was brought home the next day.
The chap who knocked into the dog called at our house to enquire about the accident.
I thought that was very thoughtful of him. The neighbour should have shut the gate.
Across the road from us they had two black retrievers just before Christmas.
Now they only have one as one was knocked over at around 6am one morning
and killed. It was pitch black that time in the morning. It would not have happened
if the home owner had shut the gate the night before.
Next door to us have had numerous cats and they all have been killed on the road out side our houses. It is 30 mile an hour zone, one one takes any notice.
I saw a little bit of the programme about the man on in bridge on goggle box. I was really touched by it.
what lovely men they are. both of them.
I saw a snatch of the proramme
Sorry for the ramble . Just having a breather. waiting for paint to dry.
Why have I not used paint rollers before???much better than brushes xx

[Sam123]

I could never walk past, i'm not sure what i would do i suppose it's hard to know until that situation occurs. What a nice story. As humans it's natural for us to care and show compassion. Quick thinking helps.

When i was going through a bad time i had to call 999, to get help, so i pretended i was calling a delivery company to chase up my parcel. The operator could have put the phone down because i wasn't making sense, but he didn't, i suppose he sensed it. I owe a lot to him, he's quick thinking, he says anybody would have done it but i'm not too sure, i wouldn't have cottoned on myself.

We don't realise what affect our actions can have on someone's life and it can be the matter of life and death, 'It's nice to be nice' as my granddad would say.

[Carnation]

I use to rescue abandoned animals and if that was not enough, I put my name down for night emergency for the 'Animal Rescue Centre'.
It just got to emotional for me in the end.
But, if I see a animal in distress, my instincts kick in.
I have the same instinct with people.
If I see someone has fallen over, everything gets dropped for them.

I remember when I was walking out with my Dad who had Parkinsons; before he got really bad. And, there were times when his feet just glued to the pavement and we could not move. I have to say that lots of people came up to us and asked if we needed any help including a woman who offered to get a wheelchair out of her car for us to use. They were people of all ages and races, so that was quite uplifting.

I know I tend to run the Human Race down, but there are still people out there that care and I know that there are many people on this Forum that are very caring even though they have illnesses themselves.

In this Society we have to help each other. :hugs:

[MyNameIsTerry]

We have a dog rescue kennels not too far away from me. The charity I used to go to had encouraged people to volunteer there as dog walkers which seemed a good idea.

I would like to work with animals but the abuse issue would be difficult for me as it makes me pretty angry when I see things like that. Animals are innocent to me so I feel protective of them but I am a realist so it doesn't affect me when nature does something.