Ruminations in San Diego

San Diego 2018 - August 22, 2018

What is a good purpose ?

[01/17/17@1405 Hrs.]: I had an interesting morning today, and it was not without its share of lows and highs. After starting up with a web hosting (and more) company this year, I was given a challenging yet inspiring task: to make a "cool" website in the midst of many established and popular websites in the current internet.

I got in my car and started driving, with a digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, a tripod and my favorite hat along for the ride. I was looking for a cool place to take pictures and get them onto this site, eventually, to introduce "cool" content for the audience ! So I decided to take the downtown San Diego skyline from the Coronado Ferry Landing in Coronado. That place, I believed, would capture the essence of "cool", the appeal of "America's Finest City", and not be boring. Flying bird

Boring was the understatement.....No sooner had I been driving on the Coronado Bay Bridge, en route to the Ferry Landing when I noticed a stopped vehicle on the bridge. Traffic was light this morning, and tourists were mainly on the bridge, heading toward Coronado and the military base, or thereabouts. The car blocked traffic on the right lane of the two-lane configured road. The other cars near me were switching to the left lane in anticipation of someone with car trouble. What happened next, and my driving on the left lane, looking in the rear-view mirror, was unpredicted. The person in the "stalled", gray sedan left the vehicle, stradled the bridge wall, and disappeared from view.

Thinking the driver was attempting to inspect the underside of the bridge at the highest point was my initial thought. However, confusion led to fear, and I called 911 to report the incident. The 911 dispatcher patched me in to the Highway Patrol, and they took my information over the phone. I described the stalled car, the average-height male, wearing a light blue dress/t-shirt and dark pants/slacks leaving his car and going over the bridge. The Highway Patrol dispatcher took my conversation and name down, and towards the end of the call, described the event as "it happened very fast/quickly". Stopped traffic

What was the lesson of this event ? You are loved by God, you have a fairly good life, and you have a purpose to do something relevant here, on earth. Don't throw it all away because something innocently blocked your way, or did not occur ! Life is too precious to worry about the little things in life. Moving boat

After parking at the public parking lot, I looked towards the Coronado Bay Bridge, and noticed all the cars and trucks stopped on the bridge, leading to where the jumper left his car. The only fanfare that ensued were the temporary stoppage of traffic on the bridge, the eventual police vehicles that cleared the "stalled" car, and what will be an item in the obituary section of the local newspaper, most likely on or after Tuesday morning, January 17, 2017. The jumper paid the ultimate price, but at this point, only God knows who else paid a more dear price because of the jumper's actions.

I did mention there were some highs to this day, fortunately. Life for those of us outside of the jumper's stopped car resumed. Tourists continued sightseeing, fishermen and women fished near the Old Ferry Landing dock. Visitors ate lunch at the various eateries. Seagulls, terns and other seafaring birds flew by, and I got pictures of the downtown San Diego skyline here.