[everydayDonut]

I don't understand how he takes no meaning out of this. The meaning is clearly that there shouldn't be a gaping hole on the top of a 5 story building that people can access. Or at least that you shouldn't walk around a building you're not familiar with at night.

Anyone who thinks there's no meaning to take from these kind of events is wasting a huge opportunity to learn that small things like a gap in a roof can mean life or death

And he goes back at the end! He feels the fear like he should, looks at the gap and is more concerned that he'll learn the wrong lesson than learning no lesson!

[rootusrootus]

> The meaning is clearly that there shouldn't be a gaping hole on the top of a 5 story building that people can access. Or at least that you shouldn't walk around a building you're not familiar with at night.

Looking at the pictures, I'd vote for another option. The roof of that building isn't designed for casual use. The wall around the edge of the building is calf-height with no railing. What they're doing is likely trespassing, and they chose to accept the risks. The meaning to take from this experience is that you should be extra careful when you go places that are clearly not meant for you to be.

[DoingIsLearning]

> The wall around the edge of the building is calf-height with no railing

It doesn't matter how fit you are, all it takes is a strong wind gust, so many people underestimate this. That kind of roof access is meant for maintenance work only.

[anotheryou]

To add to that: don't ever sit or stand on any covers, you might fall down a chimney

[TwoBit]

How do you know it's calf height? Did I miss that in this classically drawn out prose? There's a picture with him leaning over a ~4 foot high ledge. That ledge wasn't it?

[QuantumYeti]

I think this is the ledge being referred to:

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.188%2C$multiply_1.3545%...

[rootusrootus]

There is a picture with him sitting down on the ledge next to where he fell. The top of the wall is below his knees.

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.221%2C$multiply_2.7195%...

[ramraj07]

This is thoughtful but stupid because it goes in the wrong direction - new York is already at being close to the pinnacle of protecting people from their own stupidity so to speak - does this person take zero responsibility for ambling in the dark on an unknown terrace without looking _while_ drunk? When do we tell people they are just clumsy and need to own up to it? Many new york rooftops are closed for this reason because their insurance premium goes up, thanks to people like this author.

We definitely lived through times when not everyone was attached to a safety harness when going to a protection less terrace. I understand the absolute need for employee protection in a work environment, but as long as precautions are taken so that truly vulnerable populations (kids) can't be harmed even when they are paying attention, communities need to grow up and not coddle everyone's laziness to pay attention to their surroundings like this.

See for example rules done right in this regard - Amsterdam doesn't mandate helmets for bikers.

[barbs]

Also in Amsterdam - canals mostly have no railings along their canals to prevent people from falling in.

I heard a story that dead bodies of men kept getting found in the canals with alcohol in their blood and their flies undone. As you can probably guess, intoxicated men were attempting to urinate in the canals and ended up falling in and drowning. Rather than building railings, they built more public urinals.

[_-___________-_]

> Amsterdam doesn't mandate helmets for bikers

The whole Netherlands, in fact.

I was under the impression that very few countries mandate helmets for cyclists. Australia, NZ, anywhere else?

[sgerenser]

In the U.S. most states have a helmet law but only for children: https://www.helmets.org/mandator.htm

[yownie]

He's just an idiot as far as I'm concerned.

[ramraj07]

Idiot only if he didn't learn from it. No one needs to be chastized for one momentary lapse in judgement, as long as they own up to it.

[Hnrobert42]

The article is well written, so I don’t think he is an idiot. He made a mistake.