3 of 9

Write now Article Tools

I am afraid of heights. The first time I went up the Empire State Building in New York City, I was truly amazed by it's structure and architecture. The planning and workmanship that had gone into building such a magnificent piece of man made skyline intrusion, made me feel proud to be there. But did I feel safe? No, I did not!

I was impressed by the speed and efficiency of the elevator service and the quality provided by the State of New York, that got me up to that little gift shop, in seemingly no time at all. I walked outside onto the wrap around walkway and felt happy about the wire that prevented people from jumping off into the NYC abys. However, every second of my time up there in the clouds, made me feel scared. I was so glad when it was time to get back down to ground level.

I strongly believe in the saying, "What goes up, must come down." To be standing on anything that is not near ground level to me, is as precarious as sitting on the wing of an airplane at an altitude of thirty thousand feet. Shivers, perish that thought!

A city of tall buildings to me, is like building with playing cards. We build up, to maximize upon our investments when there is insufficient land mass to warrant an unviable sprawl. We condense our populations and charge exorbitant fees to those that can afford to live there. We build tall buildings because we can, and it is societies way of capitalizing on questionable space.

I feel that tall buildings are only temporary structures. They seem to represent man's ability to conquer and capitalize within a short life span. They seem temporary because they are not sufficiently constructed to uphold the elements of time, and that is what frightens me the most. At any given time, these monumental targets may meet their fate.

I would feel much better if New York City had been built by the ancient Egyptians. I mean, I feel that as long as those buildings have been sitting around for three thousand years, then the chances of them lasting another millennium, would be a much safer assumption, than expecting some of the skyscrapers that are constructed in today's world, to hold up to what we consider the future to be.

In this day and age, everyone is forced to cut costs. The days of, not sparing expenses, are long over with. The days of stone and brick, and good foundations, are not even a consideration in today's world. We are bound by budgets and time limits. We are forced to find the cheapest materials possible, that sometimes barely exceed building and safety regulations. If a building lasts a life time, it is all well and good, so long as everybody involved, gets paid and walks away making plenty of money without a single thought to the next century.

We have become a society of throw away individuals. Put it up, bring it down, let's put something else there, we can rebuild it!

As long as we choose to live in our prefabricated high rise apartments and work in our cosmopolitan decor environments, then I think that we are not a safe society at all. I think that a lot of things that we do are not safe and the tall buildings that we are proud of, are just a representation of how temporary and shallow some of us have become.

With this, another old saying comes to mind, " The bigger you are, the harder you fall!" How true is that? Tall buildings are not safe in my opinion. I saw the movie, "Towering Inferno" a few years ago, and it actually made me feel the horror of such a potential disaster.

I live in a two story brick town house and I shudder at the thought of anything happening to my home. But to experience that in reality, on the, "Whatever floor of a tall building", is even more unthinkable!

Are tall buildings safe?

Learn more about this author, Jon Coe.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Tall buildings: Are they safe??
We want to hear your view. Write now!