Скачать или смотреть Timothy Jent's Highrise Rescue

Here is a televised news report showing a San Diego firefighter rescuing me from a high-rise when my equipment failed to function leaving me stranded on a boatswain chair. My friend's father saw a preview of the upcoming news report, he prepared and recorded the news report, and gave me a tape of the video clip. So here is that video clip. I had been nineteen years old at the time of this event and had been repelling already for three years. I began repelling at age sixteen with my father. When the rescuing firefighter repelled down to me, the first thing he said had been, "Please bear with me: this is the first time I have done this." I had thought to myself, "Oh wow! I hope he knows what he is doing. Those words do not instill confidence." It simply goes to show how men in every situation are self-conscious of each his manhood and fells compelled to make explanations and excuses for an error here or an error there. I had been grateful someone showed up to bring me down. I had been sitting there for nearly two hours waiting for someone. The firefighter had been aware I might have been critiquing his performance, but why? Really? Even in the most dire situations, men seem unable to escape the sense others may criticize them. The news helicopter had been flying so closely to me that the wind from the blades had been causing me to swing and to bounce off the building, so the firefighters on the roof had to wave back the news helicopter. However, they got their closeup photos which appeared on the papers front page. Later the fire chief told me that he appreciated the publicity for the department because they need funding for new fire hoses and other essential equipment and had had difficulty acquiring the monies for these items, and I nodded that I understood. He said that is why he left me hanging there so long: he wanted to wait for the lunch hour before beginning the rescue so he would have an audience and a more dramatic event. However, while I sat there, I felt trapped, and I had thoughts of climbing down the rope. I knew better than to try that because the rope had been a quarter-inch thick and had not been made for a hand to grasp. So I sat and waited. Obviously the fire chief had had confidence in my common sense enough to know I would not panic and attempt to climb down. But the thought had been there. It makes me think of the time my wife caused me to fall down a flight of stairs with my week-old newborn in my arms. I imagine my wife had confidence in me knowing I would do what it took to ensure no harm came to our newborn. I intend to post photos and tell that story on my Facebook.