Highwire Act

Surrounded by reporters, Petit offered the classic "because it is there" explanation. "If I see three oranges, I have to juggle," said the man who had already walked between the spires of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and across Sydney's famed Harbor Bridge. "And if I see two towers, I have to walk. I couldn't help laughing. It was so beautiful. I was dying of happiness."

But last week, after watching his towers collapse on national TV, Petit took a broader view of his stunt, giving it a greater meaning than perhaps it ever had. For me, talking to him was more therapy than journalism.

"It was a romantic dialogue between one of the world's seven wonders and myself as an artist," said Petit, now 51. "I loved those towers and I knew I had to conquer them, if only to inspire people. It was a time in our history when things were not looking so good. And I wanted people to be able to look at the sky again."

Petit is an artist, so you have to forgive him his poetry. But the heart on his sleeve is beating the right message. "To hear the words 'World Trade Center' today is remember an outrage," he said. "But someday, you will hear the words 'World Trade Center' and you will hear a cheer of rebirth."

Petit, who remained in New York and is an "artist in residence" at the quirky Cathedral of St. John the Divine, has added his voice to the chorus demanding that the Twin Towers be rebuilt exactly as they were, to stand as a tribute to the original buildings and a symbol of American resolve. Although it would be impossible to find tenants for the top 50 floors of the reborn Twin Towers, the desire to show the world that New York won't be intimidated is strong.

"It should be rebuilt because if they are not rebuilt, the terrorists win," he said, recalling the brick-by-brick, flawless reconstruction of the Campanile tower in Venice's Piazza San Marco after it collapsed in 1902.