The Pyramid 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
In 1999, I was working in the Emergency Management Group in Tirana, Albania, during the Kosovo Refugee Crisis. From our big office in the second floor of the Prime Ministers building we had a nice view to the nearby pyramid, about 20 meters high and coated with polished white marble and formerly thought to be the Mausoleum of the beloved leader Enver Hodxa. During the 1990's, Enver fell unpopular, so the Pyramid was used then as a Conference Center and a meeting point for national and international Aid organizations. And as a slide for Kids. Watching the Kids crawling up and sliding down the polished surface of the Pyramid brought the infant in my soul to action: One day, I also would enjoy sliding down the wall of the Pyramid!
On my very last day in Tirana, I remembered my vow and together with two colleagues we managed to make it on top of the building - from inside via the staircase. The view over Tirana was stunning, so we took some pictures and then I set off.
During the following seconds, I quickly learned several lessons: a) a 200-pound Austrian adult accelerates faster than a 10year-old Albanian; b) Austrian military boots do not provide the desired braking effect on polished marble; c) Albanian kids know exactly why they climb only one forth of the pyramid wall and why they are bare-feeted when doing so. Having learned that, I impacted on the ground but danger was not over yet. In a distance of bout one meter from the Pyramid there was a drainage, originally covert by a gutter but then due to poor maintenace looking like an open mouth ready to harm everything that comes across. I do not know whether my efforts to catapult myself over this obstacle were of any help or if I would have been thrown off the ground only by the laws of physics, but I managed to overcome this drainage and to land on the lawn, turning over several times. Kids immediately came to brush the dust off my uniform and I started to assess the damage. Except for a slight bruise of my thumb and heavy pain at my butt I was unharmed. The pain at my butt later turned out to be a broken coccyx, a part of mine still reminding me of my Darwinian adventure every now and then, especially on hard chairs. Submitted on 09/12/2002
Submitted by:
Heinz
Reference:
Copyright © 2002 DarwinAwards.com
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