Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-05
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES f. TRACEWELL.

Today mankind has conquered to
greater extent than ever In his history
the height phobia Not only has he
reCtnd towering buildings which pierce
the skylines of great cities, but he has
done considerably better than that, and
In his airplanes has scared into the very
dome OF the heavens of breathable air.
Thus while clinging close to earth, in
the main, he has gone farther and far
,, thar away from 1t. mainly through the
Efforts of individuals who do not have
fear OF heights.
Aviators and steel construction work.
ers may be instanced as striking ex-
amples. While the activities of the for
mer are vastly more picturesque. and
have won the attention of the world,
vince their abilities function in war as
we'll as in peace, the steady-nerved
man in overalls calmly riveting great
all praise. We do not include so-called
"human flies" and steeple jacks, al
though perhaps their work is compare
BILE, in a sense, at least, in so far as
the lack of fear is concerned.
It Is said that structural steel workers
lose their ability once they get bad
fall. Fear enters into their lives. Hither-
to, one may suppose, they thought no
more OF tiptoeing along hundreds of feet
above the street than the average man
does of walking along the sidewalk.
The latter has no fear of falling-nor
does the former. Neither has any mis-
giving upon that score. Hence the riv-
eter is as sure-footed as the pedestrian.
He probably feels his situation Is safer
at least. he is not worried about any
automobile striking him.
1t is customary to speak Of such a
man as merry" His state Of mind is
simply lack of nerves." in the ordinary
sense. Just as one must think that the
bravest man on battlefield Is he who,
although horribly afraid, nevertheless
goes ahead and does his duty, so one
may legitimately feel that the bravest
aviator in the world would be the man
who was naturally afraid of heights,
Just as the bravest steelworker would be
he who was afraid to. look out of a
window seven stories from the ground.
X x x X
Perhaps it is not so much matter Of
bravery as of getting the work done. 1t
takes all sorts of men to make world.
Most human beings will continue to let
the men unafraid of heights continue
to reap the rewards Of flying and high
walking and working. and rest content
with crawling upon the earth.
Along with the actual fear of heights
Is another one, fearful temptation felt
by many to throw themselves from such
places. There can be little questioning
that this dread pull Is felt by many.
Who is there who has not specialized at
some time or other as he stood by a
high window, how it would feel to fall
out?
Some grow dizzy. as they say. and
have to leave the window. Those who
suffer from this feeling by all means
ought to resist it, not only at the
heights. but by staying away from them
as much as possible. One is not only
attempting to fight here against the
ancestry of the race, but also against
the mighty law of gravity. and the sense
Of equilibrium, which is faulty in many
| perSoIs.
Those who have a legitimate awe of
| high places by all means should take
pains to protect themselves from them,
and this means mostly to carefully re-
frain from placing themselves in such
situations. This is the higher wisdom
| in the matter.