Wooed by the Wire: A Story of Suspended Sanity
Apr 21, 2024 • Category: Addiction
by DV
Let’s agree on the notion that being hooked on one thing is pretty much like being hooked on another; the mind of an addict doesn't really care about the specifics. Hold that thought while I draw you a picture with a story that mirrors the addict's perilous dance between safety and self-destruction.
I watched a documentary called “Man On Wire” about high-wire artist Philippe Petit. Petit, a Frenchman, achieved worldwide acclaim for being somewhat of an artistic vandal in that he staged unauthorized high-wire walks in the 1970’s. His greatest accomplishment was on the early morning of August 7, 1974, as he walked between the very top of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 1,350 feet above the streets of downtown Manhattan. I remember listening to the news report on the radio as I was getting ready for school and immediately thought, “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of.” Maybe it still is.
In the documentary (which I highly recommend), Petit is being interviewed and describes the moment of truth—the instant before his wire walk—that chills the spine. He stands there, one foot rooted in the safety of the skyscraper, the other teetering over the expanse on a wire thin as hope.
“And I had to make a decision,
...of shifting my weight from one foot anchored to the building...
...to the foot anchored on the wire.
This is probably... I don’t know... probably the end of my life to step on that wire.
And on the other hand, something that I could not resist...
...and I didn’t make any effort to resist, called me upon that cable.
And death is very close.”
Wow, what a great description! He has one foot in a safe place, and the other on something that all reason says will bring death. He knows this, yet he cannot resist as that cable is wooing him upon it. Addiction may not have been in his dictionary, but he was giving an inadvertent perfect picture of it and the lengths an addict would go to fill his emptiness.
To me personally, I have been in a zombie-like trance, hearing that cable calling my name, and made no effort to stand firm. All I could see, and wanted to see, was what that wire represented, without any thought of the fall from grace that lay just below it. Can you imagine?
The movie documents the great pains he endured and the elaborate plans made to pull off this mission he referred to as “Le Coup.” As I watched each step of the caper, I placed myself into it as the lead character since I had parallel efforts toward my own high-wire dances without a net, a gamble where the stakes were my very life. I’m an addict.
Let’s agree on the notion that being hooked on one thing is pretty much like being hooked on another; the mind of an addict doesn't really care about the specifics. Hold that thought while I draw you a picture with a story that mirrors the addict's perilous dance between safety and self-destruction.
I watched a documentary called “Man On Wire” about high-wire artist Philippe Petit. Petit, a Frenchman, achieved worldwide acclaim for being somewhat of an artistic vandal in that he staged unauthorized high-wire walks in the 1970’s. His greatest accomplishment was on the early morning of August 7, 1974, as he walked between the very top of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 1,350 feet above the streets of downtown Manhattan. I remember listening to the news report on the radio as I was getting ready for school and immediately thought, “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of.” Maybe it still is.
In the documentary (which I highly recommend), Petit is being interviewed and describes the moment of truth—the instant before his wire walk—that chills the spine. He stands there, one foot rooted in the safety of the skyscraper, the other teetering over the expanse on a wire thin as hope.
“And I had to make a decision,
...of shifting my weight from one foot anchored to the building...
...to the foot anchored on the wire.
This is probably... I don’t know... probably the end of my life to step on that wire.
And on the other hand, something that I could not resist...
...and I didn’t make any effort to resist, called me upon that cable.
And death is very close.”
Wow, what a great description! He has one foot in a safe place, and the other on something that all reason says will bring death. He knows this, yet he cannot resist as that cable is wooing him upon it. Addiction may not have been in his dictionary, but he was giving an inadvertent perfect picture of it and the lengths an addict would go to fill his emptiness.
To me personally, I have been in a zombie-like trance, hearing that cable calling my name, and made no effort to stand firm. All I could see, and wanted to see, was what that wire represented, without any thought of the fall from grace that lay just below it. Can you imagine?
The movie documents the great pains he endured and the elaborate plans made to pull off this mission he referred to as “Le Coup.” As I watched each step of the caper, I placed myself into it as the lead character since I had parallel efforts toward my own high-wire dances without a net, a gamble where the stakes were my very life. I’m an addict.