Man on the Ledge by Mohamed Cisse
The students were presented with the challenge of coming upon a person perched on the ledge of a tall building in beautiful Los Angeles.
MOHAMED…learns to appreciate a home filled with arguments and stress as opposed to one filled with silence.
Man on the Ledge
On the roof of the building I saw how endless Los Angeles looked. The city was full of light and noise, but on the roof it was quiet. I wanted some fresh air away from the weight of everything, from the arguments I had with my mom that kept getting me irritated and stressed. That’s when I saw him.
A man sat on the edge of the building, his feet hanging over like he might slip. At first I thought he was just up there to think, but the way he stared out into nothing told me something was wrong.
I hesitated before speaking, then asked, “Hey… are you okay?” He turned slowly, and I could see the sadness and exhaustion in his face, like he hadn’t slept in days.
“ My family is gone” he said, with his voice low but steady. “ ICE came while I was at work. Took my parents and my sisters. Left me with nothing but a note on the table. They’re being sent back, but I was born here. I’m the only one who gets to stay.”
The words hit me harder than I expected. I didn’t know, but in the moment it felt like the whole weight of his life was pushing on my chest. I stepped closer, careful not to startle him. “That’s… that’s brutal. But taking your life won’t bring them back. You’ve still got a chance to fight for them. To tell their story.”
He shook his head. “Fight? With who? Against who? I’ve spent my whole life following the rules, paying taxes, working double shifts. None of that mattered. To them, I’m just another name in the system. And now I’m supposed to keep going like I’m not split in two?”
I didn’t know what to say, but silence felt wrong. “You’re not split in two,” I said finally. “You’re still whole. And maybe… maybe you’re the only one who can bring them back. If you leave now, their story ends here too.”
He let out a resentful laugh, but I noticed his hands loosen slightly on the ledge. For a long moment, we both stared out at the city, like it might give us an answer.
As I stood there beside him, I couldn’t stop my own thoughts from flowing. I thought about the things that weighed me down with the pressure at home, the stress of school, the way it always felt like I was running to catch up with everyone else. I used to think my problems were too heavy to carry.
But looking at him, hearing what he’d lost, it hit me different. His family was gone, torn away while he was at work. He didn’t get to go home to noise or arguments or even stress. He went home to silence. That kind of silence had to feel worse than any noise I’d ever complained about.
This didn’t erase what I carried, but it made me see it clearer. My weight was real, but his was a different kind of heavy. One that could break a person if nobody reached out. For the first time that night, I realized something: sometimes the only thing keeping someone from falling is knowing they’re not alone.
Mohamed Cisse
9/20/25