[originaltext] Larry Smith is one of the rescuers on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Larry Smith is one of the rescuers on the Golden Gate Bridge. His job is to save people who attempt to jump into the sea. If the telephone rings at three in the morning, he knows it’s trouble. Someone is threatening to commit suicide. Larry will get his things ready and in no time he will be out of the door heading to the spot. "If you aren’t too late," Larry says, "you climb out onto the cold steel and try to talk to the poor soul and pull him or her back to safety." Many suicide attempts are made on the spur of the moment and lives can be saved. But if you fail, if the person jumps into the bottom of the fog, there’s no describing how helpless you feel. Often would-be jumpers are driven to despair and see no hope of getting out of their misery. The trick is to open a channel of communication with them. Following are some tricks that have worked. "Hey, if you’re going to jump, at least give me your mom’s phone number. So I can call and tell her." "That’s a nice watch. If you’re going to jump, can I have it?" Sometimes all it takes is the voice of the human being you cares. Larry estimates he has rescued 38 people in his ten years of service.