Water Under Bridges

Part 1: Distillation

The excerpt from judge’s day describes the chaotic nature of the city, as though experiencing crime, as a recipient or responsible for delivery, is inescapable. The spirit of the legal system regards sentencing as correcting missteps. The man on the wire took a walk as a result of planning, practice, and precise execution of balanced footfalls. Any misstep would lead to disaster that could not be corrected.

Part 2: Concurrence

The justice system becomes routine and boring, after a while, to a judge who has just about seen it all. This day however, the judge is entertaining a major junction in the brothers’ storyline, but it is overshadowed, even rushed, to make room for the tightrope walker. It is evident as the judge gives frequent glances to the walker, even remarking in an aside that the walker was showing the telltale signs of being arraigned for the first time. This scene is only referred to in another chapter, while following Ciaran’s perspective, but now that we have walked the length of the wire, we are rewarded for our ocular effort. The walker’s resolution is primed by this alluded foothold of story, and connected further by Claire’s matrimony. While the first event may be important to us because of the relative buildup, the flow of the story treats it as an inconvenience to get to the desirable lapse in monotony. If we were not lead through prior character development, we would perhaps feel the same as the judge. The overlap of these two events leads to a competition of prose to decide which has greater power over the inked pages.

Part 3: Stand Clear of the Gap

Bridges connect to allow passage of thought or physical form. Material trains of being and trains of thought run in cyclical blind fervor. You can choose which bridges to make, but you also cannot prevent them from forming on their own. Collisions make bridges that may stand or fall under the weight of the world. The entire story is a tightrope walk, swaying between dutiful moral responsibility and the practicality of undesirable consequences. The prologue opens with with a general wonder at an unforeseen spectacle. A man risking his life at a dizzying height, while the momentous world of passerby stops. The world seems to halt revolution, to steady the wire. He sways as onlookers dare him to do the impossible. He walks on air, circumventing their comments. In one day there is a countless potential for collision. A simple walk can characterize a lifetime. The hazardous walk might begin on the towers, but it is representative of everything below. A last show, to slow the world down, and take a breath even if it is a gasp. A feeble effort against an unforgiving world. Death lives on, and inevitably the world spins on, regardless of those who step above the crowd. (reality shining in spite of its fictional nature)

I was perturbed by one particular collision that manifested in physical contact of motor vehicles. This bridge was constructed by circumstance, then neglected, falling into disrepair. The driver of the car that hit the van immediately drove off and hid the car, basically putting a halt on bridge construction. The passenger and driver of the van were both fatally injured. This is an example of a bridge created by nature, but was an extreme case study. Some are not open to maintaining the connections that present themselves in the turmoil of chance, be it for legal considerations or individual nature. What unsettles me the most is how disastrous such simple interaction can be. Had this bridge been maintained, due consequence would have rightly been enacted, but fate can only place foundation. It is human will that must be evidently cooperative to facilitate lasting association.

First of all, my immediate reaction was, “my heart does not sing,” in fact if this activity ever befell my circulatory power source, I would seek professional medical attention. I’m imagining the perplexed look on the doctor’s face after they ask what’s wrong. Jokes aside, one particular story contained a multifaceted bridge, strengthened by a desire to heal by way of mutual support. This main purpose struck a chord with me because the one type of event I hate attending the most is a funeral. The energy of such functions may be focused around loving remembrance, but there is always an undercurrent of loss and mortality. These feelings are further amplified if the individual was extended or biological family. Claire and the bereaved mothers, however, didn’t all have bodies to bury. The passing of their sons was also not natural. Add these factors, and I am simply amazed these women have the fortitude to speak past the tears and frozen memories, rather than keep the emotion under a calm facade.