Mention the World Trade Center Twin Towers and most people will think only of their demise on September 11, 2001. If you had brought them up in conversation on this day 35 years ago, chances are you would be discussing what EVERYONE was-namely, that some nut-job walked a TIGHTROPE strung between the two structures!
It’s hard to imagine why anyone would wake up one day and say, “Hey! I’ve got an idea! Why don’t I walk a wire strung 1,350 feet above busy streets and risk death with no net!”
That was the essential thinking of one Philip Petit (whose last name obviously also denotes his brain size). Using some kind of crossbow device, he shot a wire from one Tower to the next-and then did his thing, snarling traffic below on August 7, 1974 as disbelieving onlookers gawked at the spectacle of an idiot risking his life.
I don’t know if Petit had a family, but I find it hard to imagine being so cavalier-when ONE wrong move (not to mention a strong gust of wind) would send you to certain death-and perhaps kill someone else below on the street.
Of course, I am glad he didn’t die, but had he, I must admit I would feel little sympathy for a man who took it upon himself to be a splat stain. I frankly don’t know why Evil Kneival (sp?) tried to jump the Grand Canyon in a rocket-or the thousands of bonehead attempts to do this or that-for headlines and glory.
Check out the video below-CBS News reporting on the incident-with a young Roger Mudd doing the anchoring duties:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVj2IVC9ko
Now if THAT didn’t give you goose bumps, then maybe you are a candidate to perform the next death-defying high-rise stunt. Just do the favor of letting me know ahead of time so I won’t be walking below you during the attempt! If you’d like my blog in you box daily, let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com
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