The Importance of the Falling Man

Some images just get at the truth.

Images that people conjure of 9/11 tend to show the bigger picture. They may be the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers, or the aerial views of buildings wrapped in smoke and fire, or perhaps even the heroic fire fighters raising an American flag out of the ash and rubble. In theory, we are aware that thousands died that day, but it's less overwhelming if we look at the event as a whole instead of considering each personal tragedy.

As Joseph Stalin supposedly said,

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

Recently, I watched the documentary "The Falling Man" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnA9FjvLSU) and learned of a photo taken by Richard Drew which showed an anonymous man falling from the North Tower at 9:41:15 on that day. It took me over nine years but for the first time, I understood the gravity of this event, and appreciated the true tragedy that struck our home soil that day. A man went to work at 8am, and 100 minutes later, he was forced to decide the manner of his death: fire or falling. Hundreds of people working in the towers that day made the same fateful decision as him, and approximately 200 of them ultimately decided to jump.

Unfortunately, photos like this- ones that communicate the true suffering of the events that day- have been criticized by media and individuals because they are "too disturbing for public display." I have trouble understanding this logic, because what happened that day was disturbing. Ignoring images that hold uncomfortable truths won't erase those events from our history.

"The are photos in history that are flash points, that really get at the truth. They are hard to look at, but there are certain photos that just tell the story. And in this case, it got to the humanity in a way that other photos, even ones that might be more graphic, would not...we had to capture the enormity of this event. There had never been anything like it prior, and the images were absolutely critical. I really think it did cause anybody that looked at the photo to think about that- 'what would I do?' ...and realize the absolute horror of making that choice. And I think maybe that's the personal space that we went to with some people."

-The Falling Man