76 Million Ways Our Government Fails Us

If anyone wonders why people like me pull out what is left of our hair over the decisions our leaders make then this should help explain why. Our federal government can come up with 76 million dollars to construct a suicide prevention net for the Golden Gate Bridge but they can't fix our roads or improve our schools to save our lives.

Last year, 46 people jumped to their death from the famed bridge and now our leaders want to make it so no one else can. Lets put that into perspective. The average teacher in California earns $65,000.00 a year and almost 90 percent of them are unable to afford housing in the golden state. Class sizes swell to over 40 students in the typical middle school and high school class room and we complain about not providing a better education for the millions of children who attend our public schools.

76 million dollars is enough to higher 1170 teachers at the average pay and 1727 first year teachers at the starting pay of $44,000.00. It pays for almost 127,000 new lap top computers at $600.00 a pop. It pays for over 2,500 after school coaching/extracurricular stipends at $3,000.00 per position. It pays for 1520 school resource officers who can protect our campuses from further violence. It buys over a million more textbooks at $70.00 a book. That money could go a long way to improving our education system. It could do the same with law enforcement, first responders, senior services, and job development. Just think of how many pot holes that money could fill?

Since the bridge was opened in 1937, there have been an estimated 1,600 people who have jumped to their death. That's an average of just under 21 people per year. That works out to spending almost the same amount per jumper as it would to higher much needed first year teachers in the state.

 

And lets not forget, the Golden Gate Bridge is not the only place a despondent person can jump to their death in California. In 1981, I worked for the housing department while a student at California State University Chico and was given the task of cleaning up after someone jumped to their death from a nine story building. My oldest brother was on the receiving end of a suicidal person who chose his car to jump into from an over pass while he drove to work.

Building a net to prevent one person a week from jumping to their death solves nothing. Anyone in that state of mind is not going to stop and say, “Well, I guess I can't jump from the Golden Gtate Bridge so suicide is out of the question.” They'll find some other way to end their life no matter how many nets our government pays for.

Perhaps, if the 76 million dollars went toward improving our schools, offering more suicide prevention assistance, or better mental heal care, we might prevent some of those suicides. However, anyone who thinks a suicide prevention net on the Golden Gate Bridge will save lives needs to take a flying leap. Just do so quick before a net is built.