One may ask. But why?
It is a good question. I ask it all the time. But why?
Most days, I watch the news or get a glimpse of pop culture on social media. As a result, most days, I ask, again and again, “But why?”
It was the first thing I thought this morning when I read this historical blip:
“In 1901, Anna Taylor was the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.”
I had to know more. I felt compelled to search for her reason. Was this even true?
Sure enough. There, in 1901 was Anna Taylor. Not only was she the first woman to go over Niagara Falls, but she was also the first person to survive the feat. To look at her, I cannot imagine why she ever decided to do such a thing. Anna looked more like she’d be marching for prohibition.
Here’s the thing. Two days earlier, she’d sent a cat over those falls in a barrel, and the cat survived. So Anna gave herself the green light. Mind you, this is roughly 100 years before YouTube was launched, so she’d never seen the videos of cats falling from ungodly heights and walking away. She didn’t pick a very good test dummy, if you ask me.
Regardless, she committed to this stunt. The “But Why?” was for financial reasons. She needed the money.
Anna used a custom-made barrel for her trip. Constructed of oak and iron and padded with a mattress, it would serve as her vessel.
So yes, it all occurred on this date, October 24, 1901. Mind you. It was her 63rd birthday. Sixty-freaking-three. No one wanted to help her, as they all thought they’d be accomplices to suicide. But she convinced some folks to take her out in a rowboat and put the barrel into the river. Taylor climbed in, along with her lucky heart-shaped pillow.
The river currents carried the barrel over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. As a note, this has since been the site for all successful daredevil stunting at Niagara Falls.
The rescue team reached her barrel shortly after it reached the bottom of the falls. She was alive and mostly uninjured, except for a small gash on her head. The actual “ride,” on the whole, took less than twenty minutes. However, getting the barrel open was slow-going. After the feat, she told the press:
“If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat … I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces then make another trip over the Fall.”
Sadly, more than 5000 people have gone over the falls in the past, at least since someone started counting in 1850. Most of them don’t make it. On average, between 20 and 30 people die going over the falls each year. The majority of deaths are suicides. In general, these are not publicized.
Back to my recurring thought. But why?
The thing about the question is this. What may be apparent to one person may seem like an utter mystery to the next. So many times, we cannot understand people’s reasoning in things. Yet, in their minds, the choices they make are coherent and sound.
I think it is perfectly fine to ask, “But why?” Yet, when we hear their answers, we must make our own choices in our responses based on what is clear and virtuous to us. Yet. So many times, it feels like going over a waterfall in a barrel.
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“We are our choices.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
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“You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it.”
― Roy T. Bennett
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“There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it.”
― Shannon L. Alder
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More fun than a barrel of Anna
