The guardian of the The Gap- A suicide point.

In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?" the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.

For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia's most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.

What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.

"You can't just sit there and watch them," says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. "You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple."

Since the 1800s, Australians have flocked to The Gap to end their lives, with little more than a 3-foot (1 meter) fence separating them from the edge. Local officials say about one person a week commits suicide there, and in January, the Woollahra Council applied for 2.1 million Australian dollars ($1.7 million) in federal funding to build a higher fence and overhaul security.

In the meantime, Ritchie keeps up his voluntary watch. The council recently named Ritchie and Moya, his wife of 58 years, 2010's Citizens of the Year.
He's saved 160 people, according to the official tally, but that's only an estimate. Ritchie doesn't keep count. He just knows he's watched far more walk away from the edge than go over it.

Each morning, he climbs out of bed, pads over to the bedroom window of his modest, two-story home, and scans the cliff. If he spots anyone standing alone too close to the precipice, he hurries to their side.

Some he speaks with are fighting medical problems, others suffering mental illness. Sometimes, the ones who jump leave behind reminders of themselves on the edge — notes, wallets, shoes. Ritchie once rushed over to help a man on crutches. By the time he arrived, the crutches were all that remained.

In his younger years, he would occasionally climb the fence to hold people back while Moya called the police. He would help rescue crews haul up the bodies of those who couldn't be saved. And he would invite the rescuers back to his house afterward for a comforting drink.
It all nearly cost him his life once. A chilling picture captured decades ago by a local news photographer shows Ritchie struggling with a woman, inches from the edge. The woman is seen trying to launch herself over the side — with Ritchie the only thing between her and the abyss. Had she been successful, he would have gone over, too.

These days, he keeps a safer distance. The council installed security cameras this year and the invention of mobile phones means someone often calls for help before he crosses the street.

But he remains available to lend an ear, though he never tries to counsel, advise or pry. He just gives them a warm smile, asks if they'd like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him.

"I'm offering them an alternative, really," Ritchie says. "I always act in a friendly manner. I smile."

A smile cannot, of course, save everyone; the motivations behind suicide are too varied. But simple kindness can be surprisingly effective. Mental health professionals tell the story of a note left behind by a man who jumped off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way to the bridge, the man wrote, I will not jump.

"A smile can go a long way — caring can go even further. And the fact that he offers them tea and he just listens, he's really all they wanted," Hines says. "He's all a lot of suicidal people want."

In 2006, the government recognized Ritchie's efforts with a Medal of the Order of Australia, among the nation's highest civilian honors. It hangs on his living room wall above a painting of a sunshine someone left in his mailbox. On it is a message calling Ritchie "an angel that walks amongst us."

He smiles bashfully. "It makes you — oh, I don't know," he says, looking away. "I feel happy about it."

Despite all he has seen, he says he is not haunted by the ones who were lost. He cannot remember the first suicide he witnessed, and none have plagued his nightmares. He says he does his best with each person, and if he loses one, he accepts that there was nothing more he could have done.

Nor have he and Moya ever felt burdened by the location of their home.

"I think, 'Isn't it wonderful that we live here and we can help people?'" Moya says, her husband nodding in agreement.

By KRISTEN GELINEAU
Associated Press Writer (updated 12:07 p.m. ET June 13, 2010)

Epilogue: The man in a red canoe who saved a million lives

Mostly we commute to work each day driven by motives we would rather not look at too deeply. But one renal physician used a red canoe to commute each day from his house boat to the hospital. He could have been a very rich man, but instead Belding Scribner gave his invention away, and continued his modest existence.

He invented the Scribner shunt- a U of Teflon connecting an artery to a vein, and allowing haemodialysis to be something which could be repeated as often as needed. Before Scribner, a glass tube had to be painfully inserted into the blood vessels, which would be damaged by the procedure and haemodialysis could only be done for a few cycles.

Clyde Shields was his first patient with chronic renal failure to receive the shunt on 9 March 1960, and said that his first treatment “took so much of the waste I’d stored up out of me that it was just like turning on the light from darkness”.

Scribner took that was something 100% fatal and overnight turned it into a condition with a 90% survival. In doing so, he founded a branch of bioethics because not everyone could have the treatment immediately. This is the branch of ethics that is to do with who gets what- ie distributive justice. In Scribner’s day, this was decided by the famous ‘life and death committee’ which had the unenviable job of choosing who would survive by placing people in order precedence.

Scribner said that his inventions sprang from his empathy for patients, including himself. ‘I was a sickly child’ he said, and at times he needed a heart-lung machine, a new hip, and donated corneas. He was the sort of man whose patients would inspire him to worry away at their problems during the day- and then to awake at night with a brilliant solution.

On 19 June 2003, his canoe was found afloat but empty- and like those ancient Indian burial canoes found at Wiskam which have been polished to an unimaginable lustre by the action of the shifting sand around the island of the dead, so we polish and cherish the image of this man who gave everything away.

source: Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine.

Nice words by Dr Azarishman

Dean's words on year book 2010

~Honey bee~ By Zee Avi.

I am a honey bee
Shunned off from the colony
And they won’t let me in
So I left the hive
They took away all my stripes
And broke off both my wings
So I’ll find another tree
And make the wind my friend
I’ll just sing with the birds
They’ll tell me secrets off the world

But my other honey bee
Stuck where he doesn’t wanna be
Oh my darling honey bee
I’ll come save you
Even if it means I’ll have to face the queen

So I’ll come prepared
My new friends say they would help me
Get my loved one back
They say it isn’t right
The bees have control of your mind
But I choose not to believe that
So we’ll meet in the darkness of the night
And I’ll promise I will be there on time
We’ll be guided by my new friends the butterflies
Bring us back to our own little hive

Oh my other honey bee
No longer stuck where he doesn’t wanna be
Oh my darling honey bee
I have saved you
And now that you’re with me
We can make our own honey

Parting speech: meaningful words.

It’s the season finale~mbbs. Graduates are overwhelmed with joy with the result of their 7 yrs of hardship. A worthwhile celebration, I would say. A long waited and indeed a sweet fruit of asperity. I can’t say I’m quite as excited as the rest of 103. But still, I’m excited too-perhaps very excited, compared to my usual dysthymic mood.

Today we had the most important event of our life. “Today you got the key to unlock your future” said one of our shīfus.

I was kinda touched to undertake this Oath~Muslim physician’s oath. It made me feel like now I have a real deal of responsibility on my head- though what already stuffed on my head isn’t anything less. I have read this many more times. I have written it many times. But still, saying it aloud with the rest of us in front of handful of lecturers felt special- really awesome feeling it was.

Not long time ago, our ex-shīfu (actually still our shīfu), talked to us about the purpose of IIUM. He mentioned that there are many medical schools in Malaysia. “Yet we wanted one, because we wanted an Islamic medical school”. “But that doesn’t mean we are going to be any less than other medical schools in our medical teachings. You have to master medicine 1st, and then you will add on Islamic knowledge to perfect it”.

During today’s ceremony, we had the benefit of valuable parting speeches by our current shīfu and deputy shīfu as well. Initially, I thought it would be just another lecture on medical ethics, perfecting our clinical skills etc. I was quite a bit wrong. I was moved to know what their priorities were. To my surprise, they didn’t talk much about doing so great in terms of clinical skills. “I honestly believe we have given enough knowledge to become good doctors” said the deputy dean.

They rather focused on another issue which we thought is not that significant, but the fact that they brought it up today, the last day they see us before we depart from this institution, made it pretty clear that this is the real important stuffs.

Prof Fauzi, our Dean, emphasized on 3 simple, but crucial points as his last word of advice to us. First and foremost, he stressed on importance of taking care of our surrounding. Ofcz, he was talking about family, to be a good son/daughter, good father/mother and a good husband/wife. Next thing he stressed was about giving our full commitment to whatever we do. Do it wholeheartedly. And do your best in everything you do.

Thirdly, he spoke of doing things for others. It is clear that ultimate satisfaction for man comes from giving to the society. But often man is only able to see this, and do this when he is old; when he has seen all the shades of life- then it becomes natural for man to work hard to win societal approval. But the dean in this particular day, suggested to his newly graduated students to do it now. To serve the community, to serve for the people from now on- no need to wait till your old and become a politician to serve the community.

Today they didn’t talk about the medical stuffs, which they had been doing for past 5yrs. Now they stressed on more important aspect of life which actually makes us a valuable share of society. “Obviously, doctors are the worst of fathers-no! not bad fathers, but worst of husbands, worst of friends, and worst of neighbors’. That is why I want you all to be better in these aspects and becomes a better person a whole” one of them said. Which I believe is the most valuable words of advice one could give us the day we leave this place for good.

This is just the beginning

Target are easy to set, hard to achieve, and even more difficult to maintain. Think of a football team. Their target is so clear, to win the cup. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. But if they win, they just have to keep trying harder and harder to maintain. If they lost, they have to work as much. No win situation? I thought so.

As kids grow up, all sorts of ambitions surface up. The reason why they wanna be a particular "thing"? Pretty much hilarious. “what do u wanna become when u grow up” teacher asked, “I wanna be an elephant” replied the boy. He now is a big tall army officer. How close one can get to achieve his dream?

I always wanted to fly. Fly something, a plan, a kite or even a butterfly. Do u know doing a 12months pilot trainee in US coasts as much as that of a 5yrs MBBS course in Malaysia? So after much of back breaking process of weighing the pros and cons, I decided to come here. Alhamdhlillah. I think I made the right choice.

….and the journey started long time ago. Slowly getting the tone of it, hard to adjust to new life as I kept complaining all the time. But then, before I knew it, 5yrs passed by. Here I am now. Kinda happy that it’s over, but not totally over lah.

We all made sacrifices. At times we scarified our sleep. Sometimes stayed hungry waiting in labour room. There were times we stayed back without going home for Raya Holidays. (it’s a big thing for some of us). So we finally achieved our goals. Alhamdhlillah.

But what does this mean? Like a foot ball team, we can’t stop now. Once we achieved the title, we got to work even harder, over the clock, throughout the day and night, to maintain our title and to adhere to our oath.

“To be instrument of thy will and mercy, and, in all humbleness, to exercise justice, love and compassion for all thy creations: To extend my hand of service to one and all, to the rich and to the poor, to friend and foe alike, regardless of race, religion and culture: To hold human life as precious and scared, and, to protect and honor it at all times and under all circumstances in accordance to thy law: To do my utmost to alleviate pain and misery, and to comfort and counsel human beings in sickness and in anxiety”

Bottom line is… this is just the beginning. I would like to extend my warm felicitations to all my colleagues and wish you all the best in all your future endeavours.