On Monday, July 11th, New York City’s neck was twisted upward as it watched in awe and horror Seanna Sharpe’s daring flight between two towers of the Williamsburg bridge, 300 feet in the air. She skillfully spun and fell in the cradle of just one long sheet of silky fabric. I wasn’t at the bridge, but watching the video was enough to give me goose bumps.
Promptly, the NYPD descended upon her from all angles, and the insane bout of creativity was forced to end. As she spent two nights in jail, the world buzzed with contraversy over whether what she did was to be admired or admonished.
Her decision and its real and potential impacts are certainly worth examining. She was called “an idiot”, “selfish”, “a hipster” by the more conservative crowd who felt she deserves to be in jail for what she did, as well as “awesome”, “courageous”, “fearless” and “amazing” by those who were inspired by her stunt. Yes, she COULD have fallen; she MIGHT have died and hurt others; she SHOULD have gotten a permit… But in all honesty, would it have been the same had she been surrounded by hundreds of policemen, holding back the crowd; had the bridge been padded and traffic blocked off? Would she really have been free as she was then?
Ever since finding out about her escapade, I’ve been trying to figure out how I feel about it.
While I hate selfish acts that can hurt others, I love art, and I think there is and should always be a place in the world for beauty, defiance and redefinition of norms.
Anyone who knows Seanna or has seen her work, understands how perfectly in sync she is with that fabric and how well she understands its every move. I had no doubt that she would not have fallen, but others, especially the law, are not as confident. But great art isn’t nurtured by following the rules. Every innovation, every inspiration, every daring move, started out as a breaking of a rule. And when you think about the selfishness of so many of our sanctioned actions, Seanna’s expression provides more potential benefit than harm.
Just because something is lawful, it does not make it inherently good or even ethical. Take for instance the treatment of farm animals. Numerous farms keep their livestocks in conditions so deplorable that they would be arrested for animal cruelty were they to attempt the same treatment of dogs or cats. Yet our society looks the other way, simce mass farming of animals and animal products, such as milk and eggs, is tremendously profitable. So that makes it OK.
Perhaps we can start with one defying act, like tying ourselves to a bridge and doing some aerial dancing, but if we have the courage for that as a society, perhaps we’ll then be bold enough to speak out against other injustices that plague our world.
Everyone will see Seanna’s flight as something different. I see it as a statement worth making. I hope each of us finds the courage to take our own flight. Without getting hurt, of course.
