She looks to be in her early twenties and is overweight. She's wearing a backpack and is pinching a folded red jacket between her right arm and her body. A gusting wind blows back her light brown hair as she stands on the ledge atop the seven story parking garage. I can see her perched there from my window.

She's been up there about an hour now. The police cordoned off the sidewalk and street beneath her. I can't see if there's a someone up there trying to talk her off the ledge. Disturbed is about the only way I can describe how I feel at the moment.

When she first got up there, I could see a crowd forming from my window. A breezeway between my office building and the parking garage blocks my view of the street corner where she'd land. It was morbid curiosity which made me get up from my desk and walk outside to see the whole scene. I stayed outside for only a minute. That's all the time I needed to soak in what we've all seen before in movies. In real life, though, the sight of a jumper turns the stomach more.

As I walked back to my office, I passed people rushing outside. Some were laughing. If I hadn't been alone when I went out, maybe I would have cracked a joke. Look at my last post. I thought it was funny that a group trying to prevent suicides would use the Golden Gate Bridge in a promotional flyer. Since the joke is about the suicide prevention people, not the job they do, maybe it's still funny. I don't know. But I do know if I see a jumper again, I won't joke.

Earlier this morning I wrote an item for The Report. A political campaign was claiming the down economy caused more instances of child abuse. While writing the item, my baloney detector was going off. Now, I'm not so sure.

I've been writing this post for about 15 minutes. During that time I got a call on a recirculation plan to pump water out of the Delta, use canals to convey it upstream, then release it into the San Joaquin River. The idea is to reduce salinity levels in the San Joaquin River by flushing cleaner water through it. I wish I could have paid more attention during the call, but my mind is elsewhere.

She's still up there. Maybe God heard my prayer asking that He touch her heart, give her hope and get her off that ledge.

Irony