How much of our wonder at fragility comes from the question – when will it fail?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, The Tree of Life pictured Above, Delicate Arch in Utah – each will someday succumb to the frailty of time and come to rest on the weary ground in repose.

And so I wonder, do we deify and anthropomorphize these things because we believe them to be strong? Or can we not bear to look away lest we miss the catastrophic twist and tear of their fall? Surely it can be both, but we would rather believe the former. It is better in most minds to pay attention to the strong, the tenacious, the clinging vine of life that proves its mettle in the fires of testing. I think we all find a strange pleasure, though, in watching a boulder finally break free and fall down the mountain. The collapse of an ancient building or rushing thunder of glacial calving fills us with indescribable emotion – a rush of excitement.

I do not believe that this comes from a perverse or wrong place of joy at collapse and failure. I think great and loud experiences remind us of our own frailty and weakness. I’ve heard it said that rollercoasters and horror movies give us a rush because we get to experience for a moment the thrill of survival. The act of coming through a harrowing event and living to tell the tale.

When I visited Delicate Arch in Utah, my first thought was that it didn’t seem so Delicate as had been supposed. I’m sure that without human intervention, it will continue to grace the high point of Arches National Park for many years to come. But this same year I’m writing, another Arch did collapse – Double Arch, which I also visited. That Arch in particular stunned me with its solidarity. Its arches were easily dozens of feet thick, and though it spanned 50 yards or so, they looked strong and wore beards of green. I haven’t worked up the courage to see what it looks like now.

I think weakness and frailty in tenacious positions reminds us of our own, and we need that in our lives. For what are each of us anyway, but a weed growing in the sidewalk, fighting for every good thing we can reach?