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| Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash |
An insurance company allied with the government of South Korea to start an advertising campaign on one of the most important bridges in Seoul, the Mapo Bridge, known as bridge of death to reimagine it as the bridge of life.
South Korea is one of the countries with
the highest suicide rate in the world. Just the Mapo Bridge itself recorded an average of
twenty-one deaths per year.
To solve the serious problem, the
government studied two alternatives: building a wall or closing the bridge.
But a third alternative emerged - carrying out an advertising campaign in favor of
life, in such a way that messages made people think twice, before taking the
extreme measure of suicide.
An insurance company created a
partnership with advertisers, psychologists and suicide prevention activists,
so that inspiring phrases could be created. In the sequence, luminous led
panels with sensors were installed over more than two kilometers, causing them
to light up, as passersby walk across the bridge, allowing people to read
phrases such as:
Go see the people you miss.
The best moments of your life are yet to come.
How would you like to be remembered?
The campaign started in September 2012. Until December of the same year, that
is, in the three-month period, the suicide rate on the bridge
decreased by 85%, deserving the special award campaign of the well-known
Cannes International Film Festival.
When caring matters
Although the campaign may have its commercial bias, considering the involvement of an insurance broker, what stands out is the effect: many voluntary deaths have been avoided.The demonstration that a human being cares about another human being, his brother, is what matters the most.
Suicide is one of the most serious crimes that a human being can commit. With that attitude, one despises the life that was given from Divinity throwing away the opportunity for individual growth and moral development.
If you are on the verge of attempting against your own life, think for a moment: What is going on that makes you feel that way?
Learn to wait
If you lost your love, your job, a precious
opportunity, think that nothing is better than waiting a little longer, because
everything passes.
The hopelessness that shadows
your hours, will soon dissipate.
After the darkness of
night, there is always a splendid dawn. Soon, the sun will gloriously shine again, the birds will sing and the nature will thrive.
Let the night hours slip away, wait for the dawn
and allow yourself to live a new day. Everything changes quickly:
the weather, the situations, the difficulties and the problems.
Conclusion
Wait for
tomorrow, confident. Do not abandon life today. Hope is at the window, smiling,
waiting for your gaze. Life, however harsh, deserves
to be lived to the full, a gift from the loving and good Father.
