One of my favorite podcasts is This American Life, a radio show that tells stories of “ordinary people,” with each show focusing on a simple theme. This particular podcast was titled The Bridge, covering several unique stories about bridges all over the world. The first story focused on the Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing, China, popular among suicide jumpers — with a special man Chen Sah who spends his weekends on this four-mile bridge, saving people who intend to commit suicide. Imagine, a four-mile long bridge, busy with car traffic and pedestrians, with one man going back and forth on it on a lone scooter, determining might be a “jumper” as opposed to a passerby.
Chen Sah reports he has saved approximately 174 people from jumping off of this bridge. He also write a blog about the people he saves, and the ones he doesn’t. For some of the blog posts in English, click here. (Note: you need to bypass the “donate” page.)
(Flickr photo credit: Browncar)
