I was on the train yesterday on my way to a street fair in LA. All of a sudden the train came to a sudden stop. Everyone hung on and when the train came to a full stop, I took off my headphones and heard the conductor say "Ladies and gentlemen, a woman just committed suicide by walking in front of my train"



Immediately my stomach and my heart sank I was struck by the gravity of the situation. And then I started thinking. Earlier this year, a co-worker of mine lost her son to a train accident. He was 14 and was run over by the train. I will never forget hearing his mother receive the phone call of his death. It's something you hope you, or anyone you know, never have to go through. I started thinking about her son and I cried RIP Joe

Well, most of the people just sat there bitching that they were going to be late. Some were cursing the woman, most didn't even care. I just couldn't believe how many people didn't care that someone just died

I looked outside the window and could see crowds gathering on either side and then helicopters started flying overhead. Then I heard the sirens and saw police, ambulances and firetrucks. Minutes after they got there the conductor got back on the PA and said "I'm happy to announce that I wasn't able to grant this woman's wish today." She was pulled from under the train relatively unharmed and alive Wow!

We gotta live for today and appreciate everything about it, things can change like *that*. Even when things aren't going our way, we have a chance to change it and make it better. Hopefully humanity will not lose it's compassion the way those people on the train did

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Well put mate

omg, i'm so glad that the woman lived...and it's a shame that those on the train who were bitchin about the situation couldn't deal with it. y'know, what if the woman was a friend of one of the passengers? a relative? what would happen then?

WOW!!! I glad the woman lived...even if she won't be happy about it at first.

MG...

I can't imagine the emotional chaos that must exist for someone to make that decision...I hope enough people on that train said a silent prayer on her behalf, hopefully to make up for those who only saw it in terms of how it effected them personally.

i have a friend who was a conductor for amtrak, he said he would get a couple of suicides a year. Whenever, someone took themselves out like that on the route he was conducting he would go out and curse out their corpse.

As much as people say terrible sucide is, sometimes living is just as bad! i mean, life is some kind of cruel joke god played on us. i've decided long time ago, i'm gonna ride this bitch on out and use the motto that my grandparents have, which is "Old age ain't for sissies".

Byron said:

Seriously Immediately I prayed. Even though she was making a decision that was affecting us all on our daily routines, I couldn't help but think.....man, she's gone and just how inconsequential my being late was. I wondered about the people she left behind and then wondered if she was completely alone and nobody would notice her absence or miss that she was gone. She might have been crazy, who knows. Still.....

sinisterpentatonic said:

Granted....it just makes me think all that much more on how people can help change a hopeless situation to one of hope. It's just so hardcore, it must have been bad. I still prayed.

How did your friend deal with it? did he feel any responsibility, not that he should, and did he have any emotional issues? Even if I killed someone on accident, I would have a terrible time getting over it.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

He had been conducting the train for a long time, so he became callus to it. He never felt responsible, because the person made a concious choice to jump in from of the train, though i'm sure it wasn't a really joyful part of his day having to deal with that.

I guess a higher power had a different date for her.

Seriously, sometimes people are so callous...

1-800-SUICIDE

www.afsp.org

Awwwww ya made me cry.


I am thankful she survived. I hope somewhere, somehow she finds a passion for life again.

Unfortunately it occurs often....far more often then people know. My girlfriend works for transit. The conductors are such a mess if they ever recover at all after suicides occur. They can see from very far off it is intentional and there is not a damn thing they can do to stop the trains in time. Your conductors words sound like he wasn't coping well.. ( Even to announce it)