Fifty years ago, Philippe Petit wowed the world by walking a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Anniversaries, like birthdays, can be arbitrary things. Contrived, when we celebrate for the sake of celebrating. This anniversary is different. In a life filled with daring and an appetite to tackle the impossible… because, because!–Petit inspired, awed, humbled, dared, and mesmerized all who saw him.

He has continued to, with many other feats on a tightrope, but none like this. His years-in-the-making plan to walk between the Towers comes to us on-demand via the knockout film Man on Wire. In the NY Times, Colum McCann beautifully frames at least a part of the marvel and meaning of Petit’s accomplishment. A New Yorker article from 1987, meanwhile, dives into more of Petit’s drive and the sacrifices he has made to satisfy his bursts of creativity.

That profile includes details on a wire walk Petit performed inside the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. It was not his first there. The Right Reverend Paul Moore, Bishop of New York, is quoted, saying:

“I get flak whenever the church does anything other than evening prayer. But as soon as the performance began I forgot my worries and was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty: it was one of the finest moments in the history of the cathedral for beauty and deep religious meaning.”

The magic here is not that we humans do extraordinary and wonderful things for something other than survival. It is that we do them because the best part of us must do them to survive a life lived in all our humanity.

---

Mentioned:

• Colum McCann