God came to the Bridge

[trenton]

One day, there was a man in profound distress. This man was poor, sleep deprived, and distraught. He sat down by the rail of a bridge, curled up in a ball crying as he sat on a blanket next to a broken guitar. God saw this man in distress, and walked up to him.

God asked the man "Why are you crying? Do you need help?"

The man looked to God and said "There is nothing you can do to help me! Only God can help me! You are not God! You can't help me! Only God or someone with power can help me!" God wanted to reason with the man, but the man would not believe that he was God.

The man requested that God walk away. However, God would not abandon this man. God fulfilled this man's request to walk away, but did not abandon him. Instead God used his power on a cell phone in his pocket to dial 911. God requested that the police come to the bridge while describing the scene that was unfolding. The police asked God if the man was black or Hispanic. God told the police that the man was white. The police arrived in about 1 minute.

An officer approached the bridge. God pointed to the man on the bridge and described what happened. A witness told the officer that he was considering calling the police himself as he described the man's behavior. The officer thanked them for the information as he approached the man on the bridge.

God understood that the man would probably be pissed at him for calling the police, therefore it was time to leave the scene as the presence of the body he inhabited would likely trigger further destabilization in the distressed man.

As God and the witness walked away from the scene, they briefly discussed the significance of what had happened and the broader social patterns that were occurring in the region such as poverty, crime, drug addiction, and previous suicides at that scene committed by people who believed that jumping would lead to a swift rather than slow and agonizing death.

Once the two parted ways, God was approached by a cat. The cat started mewing and rubbing against him as a sign of affection. God pet the cat and gave it some water before coming home to type this story.

This story seems fitting for actualized.org.

[trenton]

In case it wasn't clear. I went for a walk and there was a suicidal guy on the bridge. There was actually a guy acting like he was going to kill himself a couple of days ago when I posted that. We seriously need better programs for addiction and poverty or this is what we end up with in our society. Not to mention the organized criminals that exploit jurisdictional gaps on different sides of rivers while targeting people in these areas to ruin their lives.

Individual compassion is important, but systemic change is needed if we truly want to help the maximum number of people. I can't be at the bridge everyday to stop people from jumping. We can't rely on the good Samaritan forever because there needs to be a better social structure in place to stop people from reaching such a severe state of crisis.

[Willy Phallicus]

The system we currently find ourselves in needs to be abolished completely but I highly doubt the farmers are going to give up their farm.  Its a no win situation.

[Dodo]

Must be fun for the ego to play God. What ego death?

Edited 1 hour ago by Dodo