One and a Half Cheers for the Empire State Building Daredevils
Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau attracted international fame for climbing the Empire State Building on Wednesday. Clad in black, the two of them scaled the needle, took photos, and flew a flag that said “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.” Beerkus additionally took the opportunity to propose to Nikolau on the way down.
It probably isn’t in society’s best interest for more people to be scaling the Empire State Building.… But we definitely need more of the spirit that the Empire State Daredevils put on display.
The two of them were subsequently arrested by the New York City Police Department and charged with multiple felonies. They were arraigned on Thursday morning and granted supervised release by a judge. Both Beerkus and Nikolau are quite experienced at this sort of “rooftoping,” and were the subject of a Netflix documentary on the topic.
I’m no lawyer, and I can’t speak specifically to the charges they’re facing. I’m sure they violated some law in doing what they did. Certainly, they’ve attracted plenty of criticism on the merits, citing the resources spent and disruption caused by their stunt.
Those are all valid points to raise. But you know what? I like them anyway.
Say what you will of the couple, but they certainly don’t lack for bravery and skill. More importantly, though, Beerkus and Nikolau demonstrated something criminally lacking in the modern world: a lust for life.
That may seem contradictory, given the severe danger they put themselves in. Aren’t these people just low-grade adrenaline junkies and narcissists? Perhaps. But there are worse sins than that. Ask yourself who’s more alive: is it the person who drags themselves to work a job they hate, comes home, plays video games, scrolls some short-form videos on their phone, and goes to bed every day? Or is it the people that, to a fault, seek adventure and thrills and danger?
The former is an exaggeration of modern life for many people, but it isn’t an extreme one. Most of us live by routine, and avoid anything that might cause discomfort or embarrassment like the plague.
It’s also the fact that these two people who are clearly the same sort of unhinged found each other. Come on, normal people are so scared of talking to each other that they’ve outsourced their romantic aspirations to dating apps. And we’re supposed to hate the couple that will flout the law and common sense to climb one of the tallest buildings in New York City for each other?
In a world where everyone is so isolated, so stunted, so lonely, is there not something aspirational in seeking two people who are crazy enough to live on the edge and take risks, and are crazy for each other in exactly the same way?
Isn’t that what all of us want? Not illegally free climbing a massive building necessarily, but someone who connects with us at that deep, fundamental level? Why even be alive if you aren’t either experiencing that or seeking it?
Ok, the flag they flew was a little cliche, but so what? When you’ve accomplished something as significant as climbing the Empire State Building, being a little bit basic isn’t unforgivable. And at least it wasn’t annoying political activism!
As to the disruption they caused and the risk they presented to first responders, it’s a fair criticism. One could also fairly characterize Beerkus and Nikolau as going beyond bravery and verging into recklessness. And yet, I would say that too much boldness is more forgivable than too little, and they’re probably closer to the ideal than the average person.
The two of them are likely to be in some amount of legal trouble, and they probably deserve the punishment they’re going to get. But while I can’t read their minds, I suspect they knew going in that there would be consequences, made their peace with them, and did what they did anyway.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admire that. We’re living in an era of retreat from danger, from discomfort, from romance, and from life itself. It makes the fact these two are running in the opposite direction towards the romantic, the irrational, and the aspirational all the more striking.
It probably isn’t in society’s best interest for more people to be scaling the Empire State Building. It’d get terribly crowded for one, and even more unsafe than it already is. But we definitely need more of the spirit that the Empire State Daredevils put on display for the world.
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