Posted on 09/11/2024 6:42:00 PM PDT by Rummyfan
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. In all the other pictures, the people who did what he did—who jumped—appear to be struggling against horrific discrepancies of scale. They are made puny by the backdrop of the towers, which loom like colossi, and then by the event itself. Some of them are shirtless; their shoes fly off as they flail and fall; they look confused, as though trying to swim down the side of a mountain. The man in the picture, by contrast, is perfectly vertical, and so is in accord with the lines of the buildings behind him. He splits them, bisects them: Everything to the left of him in the picture is the North Tower; everything to the right, the South. Though oblivious to the geometric balance he has achieved, he is the essential element in the creation of a new flag...
(Excerpt) Read more at esquire.com ...
Probably unconscious from smoke inhalation, and this is a still frame so how do we know he wasn’t tumbling slowly?
Today Bon Jovi saved a woman about to Jump off a bridge. She had a choice. This poor devil was dead no matter what he did.
I can only imagine the abject fear he must have felt as he had to decide between burning to death or at least living for a few brief moments longer as he was plunging to his death.
I well remember that photo.
And others showing people jumping from the towers.
And watching scenes of terrified New Yorkers running in the streets as the one of the towers came down.
A true day of INFAMY!
These same foul creatures are excising their attempted murder of President Trump from the public record.
I read this every year to remember 9/11. I was so disappointed that I could not read it this year. I tried but it was behind a subscription only wall.
It may not have been a choice. The crowds at the windows were likely large and out of. Control
What does your remark have to do with the article?
I would imagine when your skin starts to burn your only thought is to get away from the flames.
RIP, Falling Man.
While I was dumb enough to be there, farcebook put me in timeout for that image.
He did? That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing this piece, I read it years ago, it’s very moving.
I had an eye appointment today. I had been listening to a remembrance broadcast on my car radio on the way there. The doctor's staff noticed my red eyes and offered a tissue. I told them why, and they apparently had never heard the account of an actual witness, having always lived in the Maryland suburbs. They were very moved.
If you weren’t alive then, and old enough to understand what was happening, you may find it more and more difficult to gather direct reports as time moves on. I would suspect many if not most schools don’t spend very much time teaching their students about that day. As I recall, even as early as 2004 and 2005, liberals were beginning to get uncomfortable acknowledging that radical islamists wanted us dead and would always feel that way.
The one image forever burned in my mind.
Just like December 7th, 1941 and November 4th, 2008.
Why did you choose to view those gory photos?
We’re you looking for someone you used to know?
I can handle bloody scenes if I have to, but I’m otherwise very careful what kind of visuals I purposely feed into my brain and soul.
>> A true day of INFAMY!
Islam must be destroyed and the earth salted where it stood.
Start with Gaza.
I still say we need the WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE
every year on 9/10 we take all the countries that just piss us off and put them on the wheel. At 9 AM we spin the wheel to see who they unlucky contestant is. We give them 24 hours to vacate the city and at 9 AM on September 11 we erase that city from the face of the earth.
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