The Falling Man

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At fifteen seconds after 9:41 a.m., on September 11, 2001, a photographer named Richard Drew took a picture of a man falling through the sky — falling through time as well as through space. The picture went all around the world, and then disappeared, as if we willed it away. One of the most famous photographs in human history became an unmarked grave, and the man buried inside its frame — the Falling Man — became the Unknown Soldier in a war whose end we have not yet seen. Richard Drew’s photograph is all we know of him, and yet all we know of him becomes a measure of what we know of ourselves. The picture is his cenotaph, and like the monuments dedicated to the memory of unknown soldiers everywhere, it asks that we look at it, and make one simple acknowledgment.

That we have known who the Falling Man is all along.

The story of this iconic photograph, and its’ subject are below the fold.

Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.

In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying. He appears relaxed, hurtling through the air. He appears comfortable in the grip of unimaginable motion. He does not appear intimidated by gravity’s divine suction or by what awaits him. His arms are by his side, only slightly outriggered. His left leg is bent at the knee, almost casually. His white shirt, or jacket, or frock, is billowing free of his black pants. His black high-tops are still on his feet.

Read the rest of the Esquire story.

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Damn… I remember tearing up when I saw that people were jumping from buildings. It’s still sad to look at it. I wish there was a way to find out who this person is. He deserves to have is name known.

When I got up today I worried that I might turn on the TV and again hear that some awful attack was taking place. That’s a fear I had often in the days and even months following the Sept. 11th attacks. But that fear mostly subsidized because of the wise action we took to finally address terrorism seriously.

I wonder if today’s reaction is a sign that maybe we don’t take it as seriously as we should.

Is it true that some of the childcare workers even jumped from the building with children in their arms to escape the conflagration?

COMMENTS FROM A REAL PRESIDENT ON THIS 8TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9-11-01:

Bush plans quiet day on first 9-11 out of office
09/11/2009
Associated Press

President George W. Bush plans a quiet day in his Dallas office Friday in his first Sept. 11 since leaving the White House.

In a statement issued by spokesman David Sherzer, the former president said:

“Eight years ago, our nation and our freedom came under attack. On this solemn anniversary, Laura and I hold the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers. We honor those who volunteer to keep us safe and extend the reach of freedom — including members of the armed forces, law enforcement officers, and intelligence and homeland security professionals. Their courage, service and sacrifice is a fitting tribute to all those who gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. On this day, let us renew our determination to prevent evil from returning to our shores.”

Sherzer says the former president would make no public appearances nor give any interviews Friday.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9AL4T5G0.html

The picture is very powerful. I recall watching 9/11 video which included loud popping sounds of individuals hitting the ground after jumping to there certain deaths. The Esquire story however, or at least this statement from the story “people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001” does not seem to make sense as I have seen this image used many times and I wonder what “people” the author believes wish to “banish” the photograph from the record of 9/11.

thanks… i’m checking it out now.

that was very good. and very sad. thank you for sharing.

@Mike’s America: It’s obvious then that you weren’t watching CNN, with the BS they were trying to push about the Coast Guard.

Aye Chihuahua and Flopping Aces, from one blogger to another, Thank You for this.

I had never seen this before tonight. It is, perhaps, one of the most important things I have ever sat through. It literally moved my soul.

Eight years on, and with all the nonsense conspiracy “truther” crap getting more and more unnecessary and obscene recognition … of all the images I recall from that day over the last eight years I recall this one that was so quick to appear and disappear, like some 1950s theater subliminal frame to boost the snack bar traffic.

For all the “trutherism” we have tolerated, especially from celebrities, and low IQ members of Congress, and now even people hired to be within the inner circle of the Oval Office, the real conspiracy is the `rationing’, and downright scrubbing, of these images from that day … by the media that for the following several years screamed how it felt the American people needed to witness the “realities of war”, whether through battlefield casualties, an enemy sniper in a window firing on our troops below as the ‘photo-journalist’ blandly captured the atrocity, to Flag draped coffins returning home on an Air Force cargo plane.

The real conspiracy of September 11, 2001 is how the media took the ‘humans’ out of the images … the dead and dying humans, who were so viciously and wrongly attacked, and leaving a gaping hole for the “truthers” to build a nest of fiction inside of. The media removed the humans from 9/11 and replaced them with a rounded-off number. The same way they turned our troops from brave men and women serving their duty in their mission to a body-tally scoreboard in an agenda to diminish and demonize a President and an Administration … and even to the point of aiding the enemy with propaganda. The media for the last eight years created its own mission to make it seem as if we were the real enemy, the bad guy, by deciding for us when and which ‘bodies’ we should see. It was a work of master manipulation.

The media controlled the context of this fight for the last eight years. They removed the pictures of the humans, leaving only distant images of burning and falling buildings for the “truthers” to stick their red “look here!” arrows all over with their phantom theories that outstanding science publications and engineers have continually debunked. Google WTC 9-11. The majority of pictures that come up page after page are linked to conspiracy sites and are polluted with the arrows and lines and circles.

What the media has done to the American people since that September morning equals what the enemy did that morning. I’m sorry. Did I say “equals”? I really mean surpasses. The American people trusted the media in this country (to some degree). They took the trust of the American people and betrayed it, used and abused it. They insist we must see pictures of dead Soldiers and Marines, but we must never be reminded that they died to prevent the rest of us from becoming those pictures that were being hidden from us.

@Eagle’s Dominion: I never watch CNN… I see enough of Obama on Fox.

I saw the falling man for the first time last night and when i saw the picture i did’nt want the falling man to be revealed. That takes away the mystery to the picture what makes the picture so special is that whilst he is falling you see a spirit inside just escaping life. He is not falling to his end but falling to a new begginning.

awww dats sad !!!!!!!
but there was a plane damage too!!!!
i do feel bad for the people and twins towers 🙁
i really hate the comander and the pilots who crash the towers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah remember is right his spirit is in a better place and so are all the people who jumped out i would never forget semtember 9nth.

Maggie: Great post, and your right on target. The media could not give us enough photos of the abuse of POWs and poor terrorists confined at Gitmo. But God forbid that we the American public actually see what the enemy is capable of doing to our friends, family, and fellow citizens. My wife and I cried when we saw those photos/film years ago, tears of anger and sadness at the same time. That those people were forced to make such a decision was/is unthinkable. And then we were angry later on when we read how the media was protecting us from the negative reactions to those pictures/videos. When we saw the devastation of the USS Cole first hand on a tour of her after she returned from Yemen my wife broke down in tears but when asked if she wanted to leave the ship, she replied, “No I need to see this. All Americans need to see this. We need to know just how cruel and determined our enemy is.” But as far as I know no pictures were ever released of the damage to the Cole on the inside of the ship in what was left of the galley where most of the crew were when the bomb went off. That was an excellent post. My wife and I both mean that. Thank-you