Thursday, April 15, 2004

Death on the Water Saw a man die today. I was under the Hoan Bridge by Summerfest Grounds in Milwaukee this morning with a TV crew, talking with fishermen and a representative from Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers for a segment for the May 13 airing of "Inside View" on Milwaukee Public TV.  We had just finished one interview and were preparing for another, when a blur caught my eye.  Something had fallen from the bridge.  At first, I thought it was a slab of concrete, perhaps because several years ago, a section of the bridge buckled and a demolition team dropped the faulty portions onto Jones Island in preparation for the bridge repair.  The object hit the water with as loud a splash as I have ever heard. "He's gone," one member of our group said.  It was then that I realized someone had fallen -- or jumped -- from the bridge.  Two of us ran to grab cell phones and call 911.  Then I grabbed my binoculars and saw that it was too late.  Whoever had fallen lay just beneath the cold river's surface, kept afloat by air trapped in his coat.  One white shoe floated nearby.  Gulls wheeled overhead as before.  I'm sure a few silent prayers drifted over the water, as approaching sirens broke the morning calm. To bolster their courage, some plains Indian warriors shouted "It's a good day to die," as they rode into battle.  This, the finest morning of the spring to date -- calm and mild, with a cobalt sky -- felt like the last kind of day one might choose to die.  Someone did make that choice, however, for reasons unknown to those who bore witness. As I drove home, hours after the Coast Guard and County Sheriff's deputies had pulled the body from the river, the late-afternoon sunshine had a glow that felt precious.  "It's a good day to live," I thought. Later... 10:56:44 PM    comment []