Sokchea Chhoeun

Professor Ferrara

English 101

November 25, 2022

California veteran Kevin Briggs spent much of his career "patrolling the southern end of

Marin, county which contains the Golden Gate Bridge" (Briggs). While some may associate the

Golden Gate Bridge with pleasant memories, such as a breathtaking view of San Francisco, for

others it will always be the site of unimaginable tragedy. Numerous suicide attempts have been

made from this bridge. Vernon J. Geberth, M.S., M.P.S. defines suicide as the "deliberate and

premeditated termination of one's own life" (Geberth.). Kevin's speech, "The Bridge Between

Suicide and Life," which discusses the various ramifications of suicide, and the enduring affects

it has on their loved ones, was both inspiring and gutsy when he delivered it at a recent Ted

Convention. Kevin emphasizes in his talk that suicidal thoughts and behavior are avoidable and

unnecessary. Women and men who have considered suicide, those who have lost a loved one to

suicide, and members of the public who are going through none of these things but are listening

to Kevin's TED Talk for future reference. Kevin uses rhetorical questions, logical facts, and even

his own personal experience to illustrate his case.

The bulk of Briggs's talk is made up of first-person accounts from people he's met on his

patrols of the Golden Gate Bridge. These stories offer him credibility and allow the audience to

think that what he is saying is true, whether it's about assisting them and succeeding in giving

them another reason to live or about witnessing someone commit suicide by jumping off this
bridge. Consider Jason, whose account exemplifies the internal dialogue of a person

contemplating suicide. Specifically, Jason's problem was his pessimistic outlook, he believed

that his situation would never improve. One of the people listening to this speech could

potentially be saved by hearing Jason's tale. Briggs's personal connection to suicide is

complicated by the fact that his grandfather also took his own life by poison. While the

individual who commits suicide may have found relief from their suffering, those closest to them

often face a heightened level of emotional anguish as a result. For Briggs, the loss of his

grandfather due to suicide is especially painful because it prevented him from "getting to know

him." (Briggs). Both the audience and the topic of suicide prevention can find common ground in

this narrative. By recalling the sorrow, he felt after learning of his grandfather's suicide, Briggs

generates a reflective tone that not only evokes a personal emotion, but also lends credibility by

proving that he is speaking not simply from the perspective of another person, but from his own

experience. By relating his own story, Briggs hopes to spare another individual the anguish he or

she felt when a family member denied them the chance to know him or her. Kevin's final words

in his speech are the three-sentence phrase, "suicide is preventable. Assistance is available. Yes,

there is a future" (Briggs). While these lines are brief, they convey important

information, suicidal thoughts are avoidable, and there is hope and support available.

By using rhetorical questions to portray related emotions and a personal story, Briggs

powerfully appeals to the emotions of persons dealing with suicide loss and thoughts. Briggs, in

the role of question poser, would ask, "What would you do if a family member, friend, or loved

one was suicidal?" In this situation, what words would you choose to express yourself? He puts

the audience through an intellectual exercise by asking them to imagine what it would be like to
have a loved one struggling with suicidal thoughts from within their own family. The rhetorical

inquiries have the additional impact of making the listener feel compelled to do action to stop the

suicides from happening. The audience has been forced to put themselves in the situation

through visual simulation, and they can no longer separate themselves from the experience as

they try to envision it happening to them. Briggs says, "Listen in order to comprehend." To

demonstrate how hearing can play a crucial part in keeping one from acting, (Briggs) focuses on

the impact of listening and the ease with which one can prevent suicide. To demonstrate the

power of listening, he tells the story of a young guy with his name who was similarly suffering

from despair and on the edge of suicide when he was intercepted by a man named Kevin Briggs.

Bethea was inspired to give life another shot after talking to Briggs, who encouraged her by

telling her, “You listened." You gave me a chance to talk, and then you sat there and listened.

(Briggs). Currently, Bertha is a doting parent and a sought-after keynote speaker. His narrative is

used to illustrate how forgiving oneself and others is as easy as listening without passing

judgment. Another moving story told by Briggs is that of a woman named Vicky, who had to

deal with the suicide of her son. In her letter to Kevin, Vicky describes how she is coping with

her loss and thanks Kevin for advocating for others "who may be just temporarily too weak to

stand for themselves." When viewers realize that Vicky is carrying on with her life despite

having suffered the devastating death of her only son, they are given hope that they, too, can

overcome tragedy and move on with their lives, even though memories of the tragedy will

always be present. In addition to generating sympathy, this story makes viewers desire to spare

another family from pain by sharing it widely. Besides serving as a source of motivation,

Briggs's assertion that "the collateral harm of suicide affects so many others" is emphasized here

because it was stated before he shared Vicky's story. 

 The high point of Briggs's lecture is a manifestation of the concept of logic through

historical context regarding the Golden Gate Bridge and a rational explanation of what happens

when someone tries at suicide from that location. Kevin noted that the original bridge's chief

engineer had said something to the effect of "the bridge is nearly suicide-proof, suicide from the

bridge is not practical nor probable." (Briggs). The fact that a suicide attempt on the bridge has

occurred at all demonstrates the wisdom of the above quotation. After a free fall of four to five

seconds, the body strikes the ocean at around 75 miles per hour," Briggs continued, discussing

the real process of the body after a person leaps off the bridge. When bones break under such

force, they might pierce internal organs. This rationalization of the fall helps the audience

understand how quickly death can come and establishes the reality of the scenario. Additionally,

the graphic depiction of bodily harm provided here should serve to further mobilize readers into

action against subsequent occurrences of this kind of heinous behavior. Next, Briggs stated that

1,600 people had taken their own lives by jumping off the bridge. This staggering number not

only demonstrates the severity of the suicide problem, but also serves as a renewed call to action

for the live audience and online viewers to stop contributing to the problem. His job as a patrol

officer makes sense given his goal of preventing suicide in any manner he can.

In conclusion, Briggs's speech is inspiring and daring, and it successfully appeals to the

audience to convey a very important message on a sensitive matter, suicide. The audience has

learnt that suicide has far-reaching implications, so one should try hard to avoid it, whether by

testimonials, first-hand observation, or rhetorical questions that require the audience to place
themselves in this situation. After hearing Kevin's speech, many people have decided to give life

another shot because "there is hope."