Walking the Tightrope
So…Nik Wallenda finally accomplished what no person had been able to try for the last 100 years: cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
Big deal.
I went over Niagara Falls in a barrel once. For real. I even have the newspaper with the headline to prove it. The headline reads: “MATT TODD GOES OVER NIAGARA FALLS IN A BARREL!” Well…OK…I don’t have the newspaper. It’s stashed away in a box somewhere at my parents’ house. And if I’m going to be totally honest with you, I should probably mention that the newspaper is really a souvenir paper that I bought the first time I visited Niagara Falls some 25 years ago.
As I watched his death-defying feat last night, I was struck by how alone he was. There was a camera angle similar to the one pictured above and it just hit me how absolutely alone he was in the middle of the raging falls, billowing winds, and swirling mist. Yeah, he had a safety harness. He was also talking to his father. But after all the preparation, he was ultimately putting this show on by himself. In the midst of the chaos that surrounded him, he was trying to keep his balance on this itty-bitty cable in front of the whole world (well…at least the ABC audience. The whole world might be a bit of a stretch).
Then I had to get all philosophical in my head. And now I’m doing it on my blog. Because I can. And you’ll like it.
It hit me that this is how we present manhood to the world. This is what, however unintentionally, we are teaching our sons to do. We’re showing them that they have to do everything on their own. If you have a problem? Handle it on your own. If you’re struggling with a habit you just can’t beat? Build up your own willpower. The world crashing down around you? Weather the storm. On your own? You fall down? Pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and move on. If you want to be a man’s man, then you have to conquer things alone.
Keep walking that tightrope with everyone standing around and watching. Alone.
Keep spinning those plates like a circus sideshow, hoping none will fall – on your own.
But what if we looked at things differently? What if we approached manhood (and humanity in general) as true community? What if we were able to lean on each other and build each other up? If we could do that, maybe people wouldn’t feel so isolated and alone. Maybe what’s been called a fatherless generation could be rescued. Maybe we could all become better people – not by doing it on our own but by acknowledging our need for one another. And maybe we could use technology as a tool to our advantage instead of something to blame for making us even more lonely.
But then again, maybe I’m just a little bit crazy. After all, I did go over the Falls in a barrel.
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