The Falling Man

MHGinTN@freerepublic.com ^ | 09/11/2008 | MHGinTN

[MHGinTN]

Most of us have seen the following picture, of the man falling from the burning towers, poised in an upside down plunge. Writers have opined many things regarding that falling man. Most feel he was plunging as victim toward his chosen death. None I've read have bothered--once it was established that the man in the photo is Norberto Hernandez, assistant chef in the Windows On The World restaurant--to pose the notion I'm about to offer:

When Norberto chose to plummet from the inferno, he likely had only the choice to be burned alive or die instantly from a fall of more than a thousand feet. That jump was no small, cowardly act. He chose to end his life his way, not as the result of victimhood. All that has been conjectured by journalists since the photograph burst upon the cosnciousness of the world.

But the one thing people have either missed or forgotten to notice is that Norberto is looking down! Why would a man watch the rushing, looming, deadly ground as he is about to be crushed by the impact at more than 150 miles an hour? I happen to believe it is because Norberto cared about others. He perhaps believed he could change his fall just enough at the end to avoid killing an innocent person on the ground.

Norberto Hernandez had the wondrous grace in his last moments to want to avoid hurting anyone else on this day of evil rising. He should be remembered for his grace, the grace of a free man trying even in his last moment of life to avoid harming any other fellow human being.

[MHGinTN]

We can ignore that Norberto probably misunderstood the physics of his fall, that at his rate of descent he could not have avoided hitting something he would gain only a momentary glimpse of rushing toward someon. His intention is much more relevant.

We must never forget the evil Islam was able to serve in slaughtering our fellow American citizens. But let's also never forget, some of the people murdered by the terrorist scum had mountains more grace than the rabid Islamicists who even on this day celebrate the murders.

[MHGinTN]

A ping, just a single ping. Never forget.

[The KG9 Kid]

It's pictures of those who jumped that get my emotions boiling the most.

[Mr. Silverback]

Well said, my FRiend.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Such a chilling picture. I can’t even imagine what it would take to make yourself step out of that window....

[CharlieOK1]

I work on the 25th floor and sit right next to my window. The thought of jumping out this window being the more preferable choice to any other option is unfathomable to me.

Out of curiosity, how many floors were the towers?

[mysterio]

This page says it wasn't him. Apparently, it's a different employee named Jonathan Briley

[Allegra]

Very well said. May Norberto rest in peace and may God comfort the loved ones he left behind.

So many heroes that day. So many.

[Brytani]

The Discovery Channel ran a special on Norberto Hernandez showing how a reporter figured out who he was and found his family.

According to them, Norberto was a devout Catholic who was 100% against suicide. They do not believe that he would have jumped on his own accord. They are of the belief that an explosion, or the smoke/fire caused him to fall, not leap, from the window.

During the program, the reporter showed the entire frame of pictures of his fall. It was not, as some tried to claim, a peaceful, resigned fall. He was fighting it the entire time! You can tell this man was scared, fighting against gravity and not resigned to the fate he was handed.

I'm pretty well offended at the press who made people who saw this picture believe it was a peaceful suicide. I am also pretty well ticked off at the press that showed this picture, propagated that impression, then refused to show the pictures of Norberto after the 9/12/01.

After listening to his family, listening to the love they had for him, the sadness that will never go away at his loss, this picture disturbs me more now then when I first saw it on 9/11.

God Bless Norberto, his family and all of those who lost their lives today, 8 years ago.

Damn those who have forgotten.

[word_warrior_bob]

Everything about 9/11 makes me angry.

Clinton doing nothing after they obviously TRIED to knock them down the first time makes me crazy, THAT is when the WOT was SUPPOSED to start. They get a pass because they didn’t use enough explosives???

Would you give me a pass if I came to your house armed and shot at all of your family and missed?????

9/11 Truthers make me crazy, I don’t want to meet these people in person because I don’t know if I can stop myself from knocking their teeth out.

I knew it wouldn’t take long after 9/11 for Dems to become traitors. I spit on the floor with the kumbaya we’re all Americans now crap after 9/11. I know what the Dem party is and they didn’t “disappoint” me.

Chalk me up in the “I don’t believe it for a second” group about the “unity” of the country after 9/11.

Now I’m getting angry again, back to the good news. Øbama is doomed, he has no chance, major landslide, we have a chance at the house of reps.

[xp38]

110 stories

[Pete]

What you suggest is admirable. However, I have heard that people trapped in burning buildings jump almost instinctively in response to encroaching flames. That is to say, it is not a conscious decision. My recollection is that is based on interviews with people who survived a jump from, say, 2 or 3 story buildings.

The questions then becomes did he have the presence of mind to try to avoid folks on the ground once he jumped. Possible. But I think he was probably in some sort of shock.

[dk88]

Amen sir. Ditto those feelings.

[word_warrior_bob]

No one who jumped committed “suicide”, it was a choice, do I burn to death, or jump?

[Ditto]

No one who jumped committed “suicide”, it was a choice, do I burn to death, or jump?

I would go more with instinct to do anything to get away from the flames that are searing your skin.

[Brytani]

I clearly remember the media portraying those who jumped on 9-11 as suicides and that is what upset his family so much.

During the program they interviewed other family members of people who jumped and all seemed to be highly offended at the media notion that it was a chosen suicide, instead of people reacting to the most desperate situation imaginable.

[CougarGA7]

I was watching a documentary on 9-11 on the 5th anniversary and in it they were showing footage of the command post the FDNY set up in the lobby of the North Tower.

While they were talking you kept hearing an occasional BANG sound which I thought was pretty strange. Then I realized what I was hearing. It was the sound of those who had jumped crashing into the plaza and on the foyers.

I cant remember the last time I felt so ill aside from the actual day itself. The mere fact that those people were put in a position where they had to make that choice makes me furious.

NEVER FORGET!

[MHGinTN]

"Five years after the attacks, Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old employee of the Windows on the World restaurant was identified by chef Michael Lomonaco as The Falling Man. Briley was a sound engineer who lived outside of Manhattan, in Mount Vernon, and worked in the North Tower restaurant. According to the documentary he was also identified by his brother in the morgue by his orange t-shirt and shoes. Lomonaco claims that he was able to identify Briley by his clothes and body-type. In one of the pictures, The Falling Man's clothes were blown away, revealing an orange undershirt similar to the shirt that Briley wore to work almost every day. His sister, Gwendolyn, asserted he was wearing that shirt on the day of the attack. She told reporters of The Sunday Mirror, "When I first looked at the picture... and I saw it was a man - tall, slim - I said, 'If I didn't know any better, that could be Jonathan.'" A charity has been set up for Briley's family, and many news programs have aired his story as being the one of The Falling Man.[citation needed] However, the identity of The Falling Man has never been officially confirmed."

In the photo, The Falling Man is looking down. I choose to believe it is because this man was trying to avoid harming any other soul in his last moment of life on this planet.

[colorcountry]

Thanks for the ping.

Such a sobering reminder of the choices we all must make each day. I pray that we shall never be faced with having to choose such an agonizing act of valor as Noberto did seven years ago, today.

[MES401067]

All speculation and the facts are that this man is dead.The only thing that matters is he shouldn’t be he didn’t deserve that just like the rest of those people that day.The sight of him falling makes me sick and angry and I for one won’t talk about why he is falling only the fact that he did fall to his death.God rest his soul NEVER FORGET.