I have never looked away from images of people jumping from the World Trade Center. At first, I was cynical about photographers who rushed to the scene, not with medical supplies in hand but with Nikons. But I never looked away. Today I credit, to a large degree, those photos for keeping the human side of 9/11 alive in me, and that has made me a better person. Photojournalism, I learned, was important.
I don't know how many times I whispered Oh, my god under my breath after seeing photos, but I'm sure one time was after seeing the famous shot to the right taken by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Drew of the Associated Press. To say it's worth a thousand words is to underestimate its power immensely.
In a recent commentary in the L.A. Times, Drew explains why that photo touched home for so many, why reaction was different from the ones of RFK's murder (Drew was so close, he heard Ethel's screams and had blooded spattered onto his jacket). Why were Americans protected from images like the one to the right, but not from the one Nick Ut took of a girl who'd been napalmed during the Vietnam War? Two images of horror, two different reactions.
In a lengthy and remarkable piece, Esquire's Tom Junod writes about the search to identify the "Falling Man." In it are some of the most tragic details of the day: "the booming, rattling explosions the jumpers made upon impact." USA Today reports that 200 people jumped — or fell — on that morning. Ten seconds till heaven at 150 miles per hour.
Now try telling me you're gonna work a 12-hour stress-filled work day on Monday.
(Links found on former coworker David Dadekian's blog. Worth checking out, for sure.)
Ten seconds till heaven at 150 miles per hour. That's a powerful statement. I hope that is what they were thinking.
About heaven.
Thanks for posting the links to USA Today and the falling man.
Posted by meg at September 13, 2003 4:05 PM