I love this picture for several reasons. It is fascinating to me to see a Paris where the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible from such a distance (and is the tallest element in sight, thus drawing the attention of the lightening). Yet I also love it because it reminds me that there is always more than one way to see an event. My first thoughts on this were to consider how it was the vanity of mankind reaching out to the sky that drew the destructive force to it. I had even started writing something to that effect. However, in the process of writing about it, I realized that in drawing the lightening to the tower, the lightening didn’t strike somewhere else.
One thing is certain though, in life, we have a choice. We can give into the fear of the lightening strike and keep the status quo or we can create, knowing that in doing so we invite lightening into our lives.
Photograph is The Eiffel Tower June 3, 1902, 21h20
by M.G. Loppé
published in the Blletin de la Societé Astronomique de France (May 1905)