Spotted in the crowd across from the Table Rock area, Niagara Falls, ON   

June 15, 2012 around 6:00 pm

So I decided that I was going to watch the performance at home in light of the perceived congestion and of important tasks that could not wait until Saturday. But thankfully a wise friend suggested to me "why not drive over there after work just to see firsthand where everything is going to be taking place later?" Why hadn't I thought of that?! I was approaching the decision on whether or not to go to the event as all or nothing, but here was a way to experience it both ways!


I was able to see the origins of those monumental crowds that you saw clustered around Table Rock later in the night. I spied families camped out on blankets and lounge chairs around the great illumination building as they adjusted their binoculars and steadied their tripods. They played card games and took naps and tickled their laptops while keeping the Nikola Tesla statue company. They arrived with stacks of pizzas and portable coolers while grasping tiny hands and pushing wagons and even a double-decker dog stroller! Diverse collaborations of visitors to Niagara Falls are a given, particularly in the summer months, but during the crescendo of the crowd on this particular night it wasn't hard to tell that it was going to be very close quarters as the main event drew nearer.


I think for me, the most captivating part of the Nik Wallenda experience was seeing and hearing how excited he was to be living out his dream. He not only displayed mental and physical prowess, he was like a kid at Christmas, giddy to be seeing Niagara Falls in a way nobody else in his audience could ever see. Apparently, unlike what most would consider a smart move for such an elevated feat, he always intentionally looks down as he's walking. I imagine that this contributes to his exuberance, experiencing his craft wholly and intensely and enthusiastically.


Here is a man who had worked hard and persisted relentlessly to attain permission to do what he fully knew he was capable of doing. I bet the possibility of failure wasn't even an option for him and there was no "daredevil" factor involved at all. Of course I am just speculating here, but this is what he does. I like to think it affected him the way someone else would feel upon finally standing before the Eiffel Tower, or receiving a law degree after years of concerted effort.


Nik Wallenda may not have been saving the world from medical woes, or other feats that some feel would warrant all the fuss afforded him. But I have no doubt that he did inspire people to proceed in the direction they know in their hearts they ought to be going, just from his determination and his sheer exhilaration to be doing what he'd always wanted to do. Steering away from potential risk isn't an option. This is a man who is truly living.