Monday, October 06, 2008

The wheel has to keep on turning

The London Eye – August 2008


I’m pretty sure that back in 1893, when George Washington Gale Ferris conceived the idea of the wonder of the Fair in Chicago he didn’t exactly have this in mind. Fixing the cars at thirty-six, the number of seats in each car, the admission fee, the size, the plan of stopping six times in the first round to load yet another one without stopping and all these details make him, no doubt, a genius of engineering… but (to me) a lot more than so.
One can look at the Ferris Wheel as merely a ride of pleasure. The sight-seer is elevated two hundred and fifty feet above the ground and the movement is gentle and nearly noiseless. On the other hand…
In a far fetching idea the ride can be encountered as a one in a life time experience. One of the few chances to place a wining bet on the game with the highest stakes ever. Imagine that each car represents either a positive or negative vibe known to mankind. Cars of hope, faith, loyalty, understanding, respect, acceptance, joy, optimism, modesty, kindness, tolerance, freedom, courage, mercy, self-confidence, openness, reverence, faithfulness, compassion contrast with cars of despair, regret, greed, desire, lust, impatience, fear, pride, anguish, pain, jealousy, envy, self-pettiness, unhappiness, selfishness, sadness and hate.
The choice isn’t entirely in our hands nor is it completely random, each of us adds guidelines through everyday life pointing the direction of which car we’ll land in on the next visit to the fair. Having landed in negative car one has to wait for the right time to place another bet, and this time hope for a better round.

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