scionreality

This is a beautiful Island. I'd like to see it one day. Guinness lists it as having the best, most equitable weather on Earth.

The highest point is often mistaken for an extinct volcano, when in fact it's only a limestone formation, formed calmly over thousands of years in the Pacific winds.

That cliff pictured above is where 20,000 Japanese citizens carried out the order to commit suicide. Or, if reluctant, were forced to at gunpoint.

About a mile south is a small flat island with a plain crushed gravel landing strip, where a pilot in a plane named after his mother took off and headed for Hiroshima city with a single bomb on board.

Dear God. We can do such terrible things.

"Many people dont have anybody to turn to when they are in dire trouble. Even those who are determined to commit suicide still hope that someone will come from behind and stop them from jumping off the cliff," said Yukio Shige in more recent years. He's a retired police officer who spends most of his time talking people out of jumping from the Tojimbo Cliffs, and helping them afterword.

Don Ritchie lives across from a scenic cliff overlooking Sydney Harbor(/Harbour) in Australia. About one person a week jumps off. For about 50 years Don has been asking people if, rather than jumping, they'd rather come over an have a cup of tea instead. He's credited with saving 160 people, although he doesn't keep count.

Dear God. We can do such wonderful things.