To remember

Several years ago, I purchased a book for the library called To Reach the Clouds by Phillipe Petit. This was after the events of 9/11/2001 and I think I was looking for a positive story about The Twin Towers. I also purchased a picture book called The Man who Walked Between the Towers, the Caldecott winner for 2004, as a companion to the book. I was unfamiliar with the story of this high-wire walk between the twin towers. It took place 3 months before I was born and I don't remember hearing any mention of it until that tragic day in history. Perhaps it was overshadowed by the events two days later--a far more historic moment in U.S. history--or it was just lost in the annals of history. Whichever, it was a moment in history in which the World Trade Center was the center of attention and for much happier reasons.

Tonight, Paul and I watched the documentary Man on Wire which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary this year. Paul had ordered it from Netflix and was telling me about it--I think he was surprised that I knew what the story until I mentioned the books. It is an extremely well done movie, mixing old film footage and photographs with interviews of the main participants. It was unintentional that we watched the movie tonight--it came today and there wasn't anything else on TV that we wanted to watch. I think it was a fitting tribute to watch this film in regards to the events of 2001--to watch the towers being built and to hear the stories told about the events 35 years ago when the Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world and they dwarfed the New York skyline--when the worst thing to be considered was a crazy Frenchman walking between them for 45 minutes.