last year i noticed that the triborough bridge had a new sign, imploring suicidal types that “LIFE IS WORTH LIVING” and stating that a LifeNet chat line telephone was located 150 feet ahead. I have never been able to find the phone, and while i am no risk of any sort for self-inflicted i just found the placement of the sign announcing an invisible lifeline to be strangely cynical. i also noticed the signs because i had seen similar signs all along the golden gate bridge in san francisco, and after returning from that trip i watched “The Bridge”, a documentary film about the high number of suicides which occur each month at the Golden Gate Bridge. that film gained some morbid notoriety for capturing video of the actual suicides, and the film makers were eviscerated somewhat for masking their intentions. the city gave them permission to record the bridge every day for some months under the façade that they were doing a feel-good documentary on the life and times of hte might Golden Gate bridge. when it came out that they were actually camping out and waiting for people to leap to their deaths there was some shocked indignation, some elementary disgust, mostly from people who never saw the movie. i agreed with the review (i think it was the new york times) which said that the film was the most effrontery treatment of the subject of suicide ever made.

when i was on the golden gate bridge i did nnot appreciate te signs, or the telephones. i have no idea ho wmuch use they get, or if lives are saved each hour by the counseling received over these lines. i suspect that the lines are basically alarms. when the phone is picked up, police mobilize, the perp is
plucked away, and the counseling is cut off, like a tease. the phones and the signs seemed like little more than a sour, self-serving remonstrance.

i forgot why i wanted to talk about this…

oh, right, because i e-mailed the MTA last week to ask them where this mystery LifeNet phone was on the Triborough. days later the response came, saying that the phones are evidently on the roadways (but not available to pedestrians? i’ll have to look into this), and the e-mail included a rejoinder that i should call another toll-free number if i, myself, was in any kind of trouble. hah. no, i am not on the brink of anything, just sensitive to these matters for my own reasons. ironically, the e-mail headlined with the imperative “DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE”, which was real sensitive boilerplate…

i would like to be able to take a picture of this sign, followed by othher images showing that the promised phone 150 feet ahead is nowhere to be found. i am not eligible for this privilege, though. in response to the destruction of the twin towers at the world trade center site on september 11, 2001, citizens of the United States of America are no longer allowed to photograph or document the Triborough Bridge. i am not even sure if i am allowed to talk about it, or refer to its existence, since that might give the Islamic extremists ideas. despite the potential dangers and national security risks i will describe the sign…. just not right now, because i am crabby and tired. this is a first-draft of a story i am writing for another of my web sites.

…..

i walked to rockefeller center and back today. head hurt from vodka last night. when will i ever learn? vodka is evil succor.