The water runs cold, a man drowns deep down into the murky waters of the Amazon. he fights to live as his lungs cease. He feels intense pain in his chest as he desperately tries to hold his breath.He is seconds away from giving up, but still wants to live. His mind flies back to his past,his regrets,his joys and sorrows; all these enter vision after vision in front of his eyes. He sees himself thirty years earlier as a student at Oxford, where he earned his degree in medicine. He drowns deeper and deeper;he loses his breath little by little and finally is thrown into a state of unconsciousness.
Jeffery Patterson, a trained lifeguard was jogging along the banks of the Amazon that morning in training for the upcoming world lifesaving championships. He had gone in last year and failed miserably. He wanted to win this year at any cost, so he had begun training very early in the year.
He had saved many lives in the Amazon river,especially suicide cases. He continues to run and the current swirls on. Jeffery suddenly sees something that resembles a human body coming up with the current. The man had lost consciousness and had been thrown up because of the force of the current. Jeffery felt his instincts kick in as he dived in. He began to swim towards the man, the current was unforgiving. Jeffery had to go on; his mind was set upon saving the man. He reached the man and he was exhausted after fighting the current. His heart told him that he had to save this man. He still had hope,so he applied a chin pull and began pulling the man towards the river bank.
Jeffery's first aid training kicked in. He checked the man's ABC[ airway, breathing and circulation].He could not detect a pulse.Panic took its grip on him, but he still moved on resuscitate the unconscious person. He kept pumping his heart while giving artificial breaths through the victims mouth.Exhaustion began creeping into his system but he did not give up on the CPR. He had to save the man's life.He had to get back a pulse. One into thousand, two into thousand, three into thousand, four into thousand, he went on performing CPR and he felt a small speck of a pulse coming through the victims artery below the chin. Jeffery was elated. He moved the man into the recovery position vomit spewed everywhere, but that was a good sign.
The "Man" as he is referred to till now gradually begins to wake up and is quite drowsy. He then begins to cry. This is when Jeffery realizes that this was actually an attempt at suicide. He does not question him; he does not judge him immediately. He tries his best to understand him, to show him that someone still cares for him. Jeffery begins to think, is there so little love in the world that people actually drown themselves in the Amazon of all places.
Jeffery encourages the "Man" to think, to think why he should just give up on life and go away. Doesn't he have anyone who can reach out to him?. Maybe Jeffery can. This is not the first time Jeffery faced a suicide attempt. He always finds it difficult to understand why people should commit suicide. Why can't everyone have a happy life like him?. It is just not possible.
The world is sometimes cruel and you do not have someone looking out for you all the time.We all say suicide is not the answer and so on, but do we stop to think whether those people who commit suicide are happy or have anyone to talk to?
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