Man on Wire

I watched this last night and I have never been so amazed at a story like this. Amazed in the sense of wonder and disbelief. This guy is just on a different plane than everyone else. Tightrope walking between the tops of the Twin Towers in NYC? It made me think of three things:

1) Insanity. Of course. Yet, is was the insanity to do something beautiful and surreal. Insanity to take us away from the normal drudgery of our lives. A wonderful thumb in the pie, if you will.

2) Kierkegaard. Obviously, this man had been captured by something transcendental. Something irresistible that made him go beyond the "ethical" mode that the majority of us find ourselves in. It made me quite envious of that state with the full understanding that an undertaking of that magnitude would never fall to me.

3) Art. I have been given of late a monumental influx of appreciation for art. Literature, especially. But visual art and music is right up there. What this man did was art. Graceful art. Notice the smile and salute he gave 110 stories above the ground. It was literally the most wonderful performance I have ever seen.

It was the sublime act of a dead man offering horrific martyrdom to something transcendent. Crazy transcendent but transcendent nonetheless.