"I'm Jumping Off the Bridge"

“I’m Jumping Off the Bridge”

By: Kevin Sampsell

Kevin Sampsell is an editor at Portland Noir, a publisher with Future Tense Books, an employee at a bookstore in Oregon(Powell’s Books), and a collage artist. Also according to his website, kevinsampsell.com, he has written a memoir titled “A Common Pornography”, a short story collection called “Creamy Bullets”, and a novel titled “This is Between Us”. His work has been featured in websites and publications such as: Tin House, Salon, the Rumpus, and his essay “I’m Jumping Off the Bridge” was featured in the 2013 edition of The Best American Essays. In this essay, the author is confronted by a man who is mentally unstable and believes he is unwanted, so he has set his mind on jumping off the bridge but something is holding him back. The author talks the man out of committing suicide and begins to be very boastful about this experience. Soon after this incident, the author begins to reevaluate his life that happened to be spinning out of control, and he thought about the man he helped save. It turned out by saving a suicidal man’s life, he ended up saving his own and he decided to start the New Year with a brand new attitude and perspective on the world just like the man who wanted to jump off the bridge.

"You're Almost There"
When someone is at their low and feels stuck, they tend to think
it's the end of the world but it's not. It's never the end of the world,
you will make it out and you will be stronger than ever.
(Picture was provided by: eheandme.com)

The purpose of this essay was to show how the author subconsciously couldn’t handle the pressure of his internal struggles due to the threat of someone else’s suicide. Although the author made it seem that saving a man’s life was the best thing anybody could do, it actually sent him into his own depression. He began to think suicidal thoughts just like the man who confronted him because he too felt unwanted by his family, but after some time he realized he had to make himself happy instead of putting his wife’s happiness before his own. He began to make decisions that made him happy, and he no longer felt suicidal. The context of the author’s story is suicide is not the answer, and sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to be able to rise up and this was meant to target those who are in a slump. Kevin Sampsell really got his point across in the way he presented his story; the flashbacks and dialogue really helped the reader understand what he was truly going through. He really got his point across by showing that there will be times where we feel useless and unwanted and we will be in a rut, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel and it is okay if it takes a while to reach it. Eventually, we rise from the slump that we’re in, and the day we do we will truly know what it is to be happy.