I recently watched the movie about Philippe Petit’s miraculous tight rope walk between the Twin Towers of New York in 1974. The movie is wonderful, telling the story of Phillippe’s friends and their preparation as well as the actual walk — 45 minutes long in which he danced and cavorted 110 stories above lower Manhattan. An awe inspiring impossibility that came true. The Frenchness of Phillippe and the honesty of his approach to life shines through. Its a pity that no motion pictures where made of the walk but the stills are glorious.
(Image obtained from Wikipedia.)
When asked — over and over again — why he did it, he replied “there is no why. He reminds me of another favorite Frenchman of mine Henri Cartier-Bresson who said he was an anarchist. Him who found order everywhere he looked. But it was an aesthetic he said and perhaps a way of life. I think its the same for Phillippe.
A few days after I watched the movie a brilliant pilot – Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger – landed his plane in the Hudson river and all 155 on board lived to tell the tale.
So a question presented itself — are these two events linked in some way? Aren’t they both impossibilities? Don’t they defy the same laws of nature — gravity, chance, probabilities? Which is more impossible? Which required more skill? Which is more anarchistic?
What do you think?
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January 22, 2009 at 10:15 am
Debbie
There is a Caldecott award winning book called, “The Man Who Walked Between Two Towers” which documents Petit’s feat, but truth be told, I did not realize it was REALLY accomplished, let alone that there was a MOVIE of it! Wow! Will have to seek that out for my kids to see.
But to your point, no, I don’t think these men, their actions, really do defy any laws of nature. Petit couldn’t have stayed on the wire without gravity; the plane didn’t stay in the air. And you know, Petit prepared his whole life for that “stunt” – by walking between trees when he was just a boy and later, walking between the towers of Notre Dame. Similarly, Sully’s entire background – lifelong pilot, owner of an emergency preparedness company – prepared him to land that plane and save those people.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” (Seneca, Roman Philosopher, Mid 1st century AD). These men were prepared, and the opportunities for greatness presented themselves. Right people, right place, right time. Perhaps THOSE combinations defy the laws of nature, but then again we see those combinations happen over and over again, so maybe not.
January 22, 2009 at 10:37 am
frankwinters
Hi Debbie,
Good quote from Seneca — it certainly applies here.
Yes the laws of nature are not broken or suspended by these accomplishments. But they approach true impossibility IMO especially the wire walking.
When something that seemed impossible happens we learn a little more about the envelope of the possible. These two certainly pushed that out for us.
Frank