Nanjing Volunteer Saves 469 Lives

Good Morning! It’s Friday again, and it’s time to freshen up after a hard week! Read about a man who saved 469 lives and learn about a new technology that might save millions of trees each year. We’ve prepared a host of Good News so your weekend can begin with a smile!

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INSPIRATIONAL STORIES 🌟

Nanjing Volunteer Saves 469 Lives

• A Chinese man voluntarily patrols a bridge in China

• He prevented 469 suicides in 21 years

It might seem like suicides don’t happen very often. But, according to the International Association for Suicide Prevention, an estimated 703,000 people take their own lives every year worldwide. The two most lethal methods are by firearms or jumping off of tall structures, such as bridges. Today’s story begins with a chance encounter on a bridge in China and how it turned one man into an unsuspected hero who ended up saving hundreds of lives.

In 2000, a Chinese man named Chen Si was walking on a bridge in Nanjing when he saw a young woman who looked desperate. He decided to approach and cheer her up. That is how he learned that she was contemplating suicide. He managed to lift her spirits and then gave her food, water, and some money to buy a ticket home. On that day, Chen learned two crucial lessons. He realized that suicidal people might try jumping off the bridge. But most importantly, he learned that they could be saved. 

Three years later, in 2003, Chen put on his volunteer uniform for the first time. He would spend the next two decades voluntarily patrolling the same bridge ten times a day, fine-tuning his innate ability to recognize when people were feeling down. As he says, their movements are not relaxed, and their bodies “look heavy”. He chats with them and tells them uplifting things. But that’s not all. The “Angel of Nanjing” uses his own savings to rent them rooms and pay for their expenses, at least for a while. According to New Weekly, he has saved 469 people so far.

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