Ken Baldwin was
twenty-eight years old, and severely depressed back in August of 1985 when he
decided to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge (According to a New Yorker article). “I wanted to disappear,” he said. “So the Golden
Gate was the spot. I’d heard that the water just sweeps you
under.” Walking onto the bridge, he counted to ten, froze, counted to ten
again, and this time jumped over the side.[1]
Baldwin is one of the few people to
jump off the bridge and survive, so we know what he was thinking at the
time. “I still see my hands coming off
the railing,” Baldwin recalls, and “I instantly realized
that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally
fixable—except for having just jumped.”
People who jump off the bridge, not surprisingly, often find
themselves suffering from “tunnel vision.”
They only see their troubles, their depression, and fail to see anything
bright or hopeful in their lives. They
focus on escaping their problems, and the edge of the bridge offers them a path
to that destination…or so they think.
One jumper left a suicide note with the simple message: “Absolutely no reason except I have a
toothache.”
The season of Lent, that period of time between Ash
Wednesday (February 14th this year) and Easter (April 1st),
is a season of introspection, and a time when we sometimes give up something
bad for us (candy, cigarettes, etc.) or start practicing something good for us
(praying regularly, exercising every morning, etc.). Lent is a season for change, but maybe instead
of embracing superficial changes, it ought to be a season of significant shifts
in our way of living. And what’s more significant
than a shift in attitude? Maybe Lent is a good time to replace our
“tunnel vision” with a wider perspective.
Instead of leaping into despair, or the promise of a quick and easy
solution, we should hunker down and face life head on. Don’t give up, but plan and dream. Don’t go over the edge, but courageously
resist and hold on. As the Apostle Paul
advises: “Keep alert, stand firm in your
faith, be courageous, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13
NRSV).
The French dramatist and novelist, Tristan Bernard, was
arrested by Gestapo agents along with his wife, and interned at the Drancy
deportation camp. The agents were at his
door to take them away, when Tristan turned to his weeping wife and said: “Don’t cry, we were living in fear, but from
now on we will live in hope.” This seems like an excellent idea for Lent.
Maybe, as Ken Baldwin discovered when he jumped off the
bridge, everything in our life that we think is unfixable is totally fixable—if
we don’t leap into despair. Maybe
Tristan Bernard is right, and now is the time of hope. Maybe Paul is right and
we should stand firm with faith and courage.
And maybe this Lent is a good time to take this non-leap of faith.
Yours in Christ;
David
[1]
From the New Yorker's 2003 article: Jumpers:
The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate
Bridge, by Tad Friend: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/13/jumpers
