Hinesights Podcast_Ask Kev_MAKE THE LIFE SAVING NET ON THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE REAL: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
Hinesights Podcast_Ask Kev_MAKE THE LIFE SAVING NET ON THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE REAL: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Kevin Hines:
My name is Kevin Hines. I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I believe that I had to die, but I lived. Today, I travel the world with my lovely wife, Margaret, sharing stories of people who have triumphed over incredible adversity. Now, we help people be here tomorrow. Welcome to the HINESIGHTS podcast.
Kevin Hines:
To hear a young lady or young man walk up to me and say something to the effect of because of your presentation, I'm no longer going to kill myself. This is what I do it for. I had a World War Two veteran come up to me in a speech, one time in a church in Palo Alto, California, and the guy must have been nearly 85 years old, he said, I was going off myself tomorrow, I'm no longer going to do that, and I never will, thank you. And he walked away. I'm not tooting my horn. I'm saying that he was, as human beings are, our brother's and sister's keepers. And if we don't wake up and realize that it's not just us in this world that we're not alone and no fight and no person in the fight for their mental health in their life is alone. There's millions of people out there that are fighting just as you are. Find that network, find those people, talk about those issues. There was a time when I first started speaking and I would talk in a very low voice in public places because of my paranoia, but also because I didn't want people to hear me talk about my mental illness.
Kevin Hines:
Today, I'll shout it, in a coffee shop, in a library. Hell, because if people ask me questions about mental health, I answer them. So let's stop hiding. Let's all come out and talk about this. Look at what happened to Owen Wilson, when he attempted to take his life. It was on the news for half of a second. It was obvious that his team shut it down. He never spoke about it again. Owen Wilson was in a unique position to say way more lives than me. I'm not saying he had to do that. I'm saying he had an opportunity at that particular moment in time to say, hey, kids, hey folks, I made a mistake. I'm so glad to be here, you should be here too. He just had to do it one time and the whole world would see it as opposed to what did happen. I'm not trying to judge Owen Wilson. There's millions of Owen Wilson's out there who have these issues with their mental health and who don't address them. They get sick publicly and they don't address them publicly. And I think there's a failure in the system with that going on because imagine how many Catherine Zeta-Jones' or Owen Wilsons could save lives with a campaign for suicide prevention. Way more than any of the people in the suicide prevention world right now. They have that power, but they are crushed by their teams and their talent agents that say no, stay silent. That makes me sad, but also makes me work ten times harder for all sorts of causes that I'm involved in. And one of them is the Bridge Rail Foundation that my father co-founded. BridgeRail.org is something that is growing by leaps and bounds, and they are the dog in the fight, putting up the net at the Golden Gate Bridge. They have a great many people helping them as well. So many organizations fighting for this change to finally stop the suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge. They're the ones in San Francisco, in the Bay Area, that are fighting for this to happen. In fact, what you will see if that happens is a suicide rate dropping at the Golden Gate Bridge and dropping in the metropolitan counties around the GGB. It's just that simple. It's happening all over the world, but we're blind to it. Washington, New York, Paris, suicide barriers, Toronto suicide barriers, back when it really wasn't cool. San Francisco, the most progressive city in the world for so many years, 85 in fact, wouldn't do it. That's in their backyard. Every citizen in San Francisco should be fueled up and fired up about why there are these people who don't want to die but believe they have to and believe they have no other choice or option. They're just dying by the thousands and they look at them and they go, well, it's not my problem. That's their problem, that was their choice. That's the big thing here, or, you know, don't ruin the aesthetics of the Golden Gate Bridge, it's so beautiful. My friends, what are the aesthetics of a bridge compared to one human life? Just think your mother, your sister, your brother, your friend, your loved one. When are we going to wake up and be our brothers and sisters and individuals keepers again? The first guy who ever jumped, Harold Wobbler, and Harold Wobbler jumped in 1939, they should have stopped the suicides then and there. The bridge was originally set to be built with a 14-foot rail, did you know that? A 14-foot rail. Josef Strauss, the bridge's builder, came in and said no. He was five foot two and he wanted to see over the rail, four-foot rail that created an ease of access to lethal means, and is killing people. The Bridges District Board are a part of deaths all over the world at the Golden Gate Bridge. Remember that there was a story about a man who was coming off the bridge, going into San Francisco, into the tollbooth area, and he was paying his toll and he had seen someone jump and he said someone just jumped, you've got to do something and call the police. And the toll operator said, oh honey, that happens all the time with a smile on her face. That's how ignorant they were. Now, there are people in the district who own and run the bridge who are helping us. They are and have been fighting this fight and they do care and they fund it and OK'ed the net to be built. The fact is that once the net will be built by 2023, not one more beautiful soul will ever again die off the Golden Gate Bridge, and it will finally become the largest and brightest beacon for suicide prevention right around the world, as reduction of access to lethal means is one of the only ways we know how to stop suicides, the building of the net will send a message to everyone globally that this is the right thing to do to protect the people who cannot protect themselves and find themselves in mental and emotional pain. I must tell you finally, I'm so glad to be alive for my attempt, and I just want to help other people be here tomorrow and every single day after that. Remember my friends on this podcast, you are valued, you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter most.
Margaret and I love sharing stories of people who have triumphed over incredible adversity for more content and inspiration. Go to Kevin Hines STORYCORPS or visit us on all social media at Kevin Hines story or on youtube.com. Kevin Hines.
Sonix has many features that you'd love including secure transcription and file storage, world-class support, upload many different filetypes, automated translation, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.
