This article is classified "Real"
There are several reasons people have for jumping off cliffs, tall
buildings, and the like.
One is that they may be tired of life. Jumping then is a certain way to
end it (except if you're a cat or a bird, but I don't really expect birds
to read this article, or for that matter, to contemplate committing
suicide). Jumping is OK if you're tired of life and want to stop it all.
But take care: if you intend to end your life on this Earth in order to
move on to another, you are seriously mistaken. There is no other life.
The one you are in now *is* the Life After Death. Your previous (unknown)
existence was the LIFE. So don't kill yourself for that reason.
If you are falling after having jumped and your intention was not to kill
yourself (but you tripped, got pushed, or had another reason to jump) the
jump might even be quite amusing. For one, there is the magnificent view
and the changing of perspective (merely talking about the optical one).
But there is also the free-fall-feeling that one doesn't experience a lot
during a lifetime. And then there's the free free-falling cinema: the
story of your life. I expect that that film will be a bit less
entertaining if your intention *was* to commit suicide. But on average:
the higher you jump, the more entertaining the jump is.
I doubt this is a very probable reason, but you could also want to jump
and kill yourself for the purpose of taking someone specific with you in
the process, i.e. to murder someone kamikaze-style. Here I have to warn
you: aiming is almost impossible. I can't speak from experience, but
common sense is enough. Especially in crowded regions like cities (where
you are also likely to find some of those tall buildings), you are sure
to take one or two other people with you without ever knowing who they
are/were.
Another reason for jumping is the misleading concept that people can fly
without further help from machines or other contraptions. There have been
lots of examples of flying people in comics and books, but remember this
is only fiction! Even the idea of jumping and then getting distracted
and missing the ground completely is fiction. The ground is an almost
infinitely large target and you *will* hit it -- whether you are crazy and
believe you are Superman or not makes no difference.
Jumping off high places with special equipment (not just a red cape) will
reduce the chances of death (death caused by severe gravity effects, that
is). Jumping with a large elastic band tied to your body (and to
something else, which can easily be forgotten), jumping with a parachute,
hang-glider, jet pack, paraglider, and ultralight are even considered to be
sports.
As a means of transportation, ordinary jumping can not really be considered
a different form of air travel. It is in fact just an unsuccessful
variation to walking and a very tiring one too. That is, if you're not a
frog or a kangaroo. You might accidentally be forced to this way of travel
if you've propped both your legs in the same trouser leg. In this case it
is easier to stop and get it right than to continue this action for the
rest of the day.
And then there is the easy help a jump can provide when changing between
transportation modes. For instance, jumping on a train (not actually
standing on top of a train doing some stupefying train-surfing, and during
that trying to jump over the mountain of which you can rapidly see a tunnel
approaching with a height too small for you to survive your antics [1], but
walking or running and then stepping into a train. People might say not an
actual jump is involved here, and that this is all just a question of
semantics. They might be correct), jumping on a plane (not actually...),
jumping on a bike (if this is not carried out with the utmost care an
accident with some high-pitch wailing might result), or taking a running
jump (what everyone who says this isn't a good example can do).
Conclusion on jumping altogether: I don't think you really want to do this.
Great buildings and cliffs to not jump off of:
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Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Earth has one nicely tall building in the
centre (Nationale Nederlanden). Because there are hardly any high-rise
buildings (yet, but they're sure to sprout soon because Rotterdam wants to
present itself as a true metropolis), the view from the top must be
magnificent. In Rotterdam there is also a thing called the Euromast, best
translated as Europole (not to be confused with Europol, an entirely
different thing altogether). This thing is made for taking a view from,
so it will cost you.
The Empire State Building, New York, New York, USA, Earth is a very good
place to not jump from. For one, it has a lot of nets preventing you from
jumping, but it also gives you a magnificent view of Manhattan and some
more bits of New York. That is, provided it doesn't rain. The only time
I've been on the Empire State Building was during a thunderstorm, so I'm
not exactly the guy to recommend trying it. And I'm not a rain god either.
Angel Point, Grand Canyon North Side, USA, Earth is also a fine point to
not jump from.
One could also try to not jump off of Mount Everest. It (controversially
[2]), being the highest mountain on Earth, offers a magnificent view over
the Himalayas. The trick in ascending again is indeed not to jump, for a
small jump for man will result in sliding a long way down, occasionally
hitting an empty can of Coca-Cola with your head and then slowly but
inevitably tumbling off the edge of a cliff, never to be seen again by
mankind.
If *YOU* know of any nice places to not jump off of, please do not
hesitate to write me, or better still, to write an article about it!
[1] Unless you are familiar with the trick of one of the recreational
impossibilities: walking through mountains.
[2] Whether K2 or Mount Everest is the largest mountain on Earth mostly
depends on the way of measurement. Is it the pressure of the
atmosphere measured (at the top), or is the distance measured from
the foot of the mountain with help of a measuring tape?