Accomplishing something on our “bucket list” might be the very thing that causes us to “kick the bucket.” This could have been the case for Philippe Petit.
It was 1968 and Frenchman, Philippe, 17, was sitting in the dentist’s office waiting area with a broken tooth, thumbing through a magazine. There it was – the plans for NYC to build the Twin Towers. Upon seeing the plans, he thought what anyone would think – wouldn’t it be fun to walk a tightrope between the two buildings?
“Here I am, young, 17-years-old, with a bad tooth in one of those un-colorful waiting room of a French dentist … suddenly, I freeze because I have opened a newspaper at a page and I see something magnificent, something that inspires me. I see two towers and the article says one day those towers will be built.”1 That’s all it took for Petit to begin conceiving the plans to make it happen.
“At an early age, Petit discovered magic and juggling. He loved to climb, and at 16, he took his first steps on a tightrope wire. He told a reporter,
“Within one year, I taught myself to do all the things you could do on a wire. I learned the backward somersault, the front somersault, the unicycle, the bicycle, the chair on the wire, jumping through hoops. But I thought, “What is the big deal here? It looks almost ugly.” So I started to discard those tricks and to reinvent my art.”2
The Towers wouldn’t be completed until 1973. This gave Petit plenty of opportunity to perfect his trade as well as doing some covert planning. Creating fake ID for himself and his collaborators, Petit posed as a construction worker and several other personas in order to get access to the Towers during construction.
“On the night of Tuesday, 6 August 1974, Petit and his crew had a lucky break and got a ride in a freight elevator to the 104th floor with their equipment. They stored it 19 steps below the roof. To pass the cable across the void, Petit and his crew had decided on using a bow and arrow attached to monofilament, attached to a rope. They had to practice this
many times to perfect their technique. They first shot the fishing line, which was attached to larger ropes, and finally to the 450-pound (200 kg) steel cable. The team was delayed when the heavy cable sank too fast, and had to be pulled up manually for hours. Petit had already identified points at which to anchor two cavaletti (guy lines) to other points to stabilize the cable and keep the swaying of the wire to a minimum.
“Shortly after 8 am local time on 7 August, Petit stepped out on the wire and started to perform. He was 1,350 feet (410 m) above the ground. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and knelt to salute watchers. Crowds gathered on the streets below. He said later that he could hear their murmuring and cheers.”3
Upon the successful completion of the walk between the Towers, Petit was arrested, given a psych evaluation (which he passed) and charged with criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. All charges and fines were dropped provided he gives a performance in Central Park.
Today, Petit is 76, currently living in Woodstock, NY, and still performing and lecturing on his various art forms.
While we may question his psych eval results, we all walk a tightrope of sorts. While it’s not suspended between buildings nor 1,350 feet in the air, it is equally as difficult and incredibly more dangerous.
Jesus prayed in John 17:15-16, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (16) They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
We are IN the world but not OF the world. It takes great care and caution to walk that line. That’s why Paul said in Ephesians 5:15, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.” The word “circumspectly” means that we put one foot in front of the other precisely, accurately, and diligently.”
Seeing pictures of Petit walking between the Towers, he used a long pole to help him stay balanced. When he started to waiver, he would stop and regain his balance before taking the next step. When we start to shake or loose our balance walking through this world, the Lord is always there to provide stability. We need to stop and do what Jesus told the disciples to do in Matthew 26:41. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Part of the watching is to get our eyes focused on the Word of God and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Christians, we CAN stay balanced in this world until the Lord calls us home. Losing that balance is not an option. It would have been fatal for Petit to fall. We don’t want to have a “fatal” fall where our testimony is destroyed and our lives are in ruins. Every day, we must be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/august-7/philippe-petit-tightrope-walk-twin-towers-world-trade-center-1974
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit#Later_life
3Ibid.
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