John H Williams

When Alcides Moreno, an Ecuadorian-American window-cleaner, plummeted 47 storeys (150 metres) from a New York building in December 2007 and survived, some viewed it as a modern miracle.

His wife, Rosario, had no doubts: "Thank God for the miracle we had!" In a world "hungry for hope”, many, including the surgeons who fixed his severely damaged body, might agree.

As before, when the unexplainable occurs, an all-purpose divine hand is invoked, without addressing the obvious query as to why it let the man fall, but later effected his survival. While tens of thousands die violent deaths every day bereft of a helping hand, it's the one exception that receives the world's attention, as the merest hint of a 'death-defying survival' is welcome news to purveyors of hope and faith.

Why, for example, did Mr Moreno's 30-year old brother, Edgar, who fell with him, die instantly? This kind of question is much-disliked by believers: even the best spin-meisters are stymied, and are reduced to 'ours is not to reason why, ours is but to spin pious lies'.

How indeed can any sane Earthling rationalise sufficiently well to address the toll of those 40,000 children who daily depart the planet  for want of clean water? No, much better to focus on the one newly - orphaned and family-less child pulled from an earthquake zone many days after all hope of survivors has been relinquished. Hopelessness is not an option, so a false hope must be contrived, along with sentimental platitudes, virtually denying the anguish of multiple loss.

Why did Mr Moreno survive?

1 He fell, along with a 4.9 metre-wide scaffold platform, and he clung to it all the way down. Its large surface area, plus the impact of cross winds, reduced his terminal velocity.
2 The platform hit the building's side, slowing its speed.
3 On landing, it hit a wall, and Moreno fell on a pile of twisted cables, a far better cushion than bare concrete. How he landed meant that his extremities took the brunt (ten leg fractures and a broken arm)
4 He was given world class medical aid, receiving 30 litres of blood and 25 litres of plasma, then nine orthopedic operations (the 'miracle' of modern medicine).

Those who've used this extreme case of survival to celebrate a miracle are duty-bound not to inquire into the prosaic details: confirmation bias prefers a fact-free, superstitious and credulous milieu.

"Rejoice, though many are taken, one is saved (to be taken later): now let us pray for the soul of Edgar Alcides, his mother, and all those window-cleaners who each day face death and injury so people can enjoy a clear view of what God has wrought."
Source: Time Magazine, 21/1/2008 (p10)