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Living on the Wire

The famous funambulist,
Karl Wallenda said,
'The only place I feel alive is on the wire,'

in 1977, at age 72, he walked
 a 720-foot cable
(about 2 football fields) from the
Miami Fountainebleau to the Eden Roc Hotel,
170 feet above the ground
while crowds of people ogled
at his marvelous feat of balance,
he called this walk, 'the toughest stunt
of his life.'

but in Puerto Rico, only a year later,
at 73, he fell
not from age, or a misstep,
but from a gust of wind
coming off of the Caribbean combined
with a poorly connected guy-wire

on live TV,
he fell 120 feet,
hit his head on a parked taxi,
and five minutes later
pronounced dead,
 
it shouldn't shock anyone to think
that he would want to die
in the same way as
he only wanted
to live

for 'The Flying Wallenda,'
risking was savoring life

 

 

 

© Brian Hodgkinson Jr. (aka) Limericist 2007

choose lifeLife is for livingrisk

◄ Caned

Anyone? ►

Comments

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Stephen Gospage

Sat 27th Mar 2021 17:36

You are right, Brian, it is. I admire people who do things I would consider terrifying - mountaineers, formula 1 drivers. Life would be pretty dull if they didn't do it.

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Brian Hodgkinson

Sat 27th Mar 2021 17:06

M.C, I thought the same thing ..? And the truth is .. we are all going to have a chance to know.

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Brian Hodgkinson

Sat 27th Mar 2021 17:05

Thanks Stephen for checking in. I also am not great with heights. Yet it reminds me of a line from Tolkien when Gandalf says we never know what faces us when we leave our front door. Life is risk every day .. we are on the wire whether we realize it or not. Isn't dancing with Covid a wire act?

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Stephen Gospage

Sat 27th Mar 2021 16:56

I read a fascinating article on Karl Wallenda recently. It mentioned the seven person pyramid (consisting mostly of him and his family) which walked across a high wire for many years until one disastrous fall caused him to abandon it. As someone who gets dizzy going up a few floors in a lift, I cannot imagine why anyone does this, but I understand that some people feel compelled to do so. As you say, it seems to have been the only place he felt truly alive.

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M.C. Newberry

Sat 27th Mar 2021 14:02

I've never lost admiration for those who do that sort of high wire act -
nor stopped wondering just why when there is so much else to
savour in this world? I'm left with the thought: what was he thinking
on the way down?!

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