The Author – Bart Busschots
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Sep
27
Some of the Forgotten of 9-11
Filed Under 42 (Life the Universe & Everything), Polemics & Politics on September 27, 2007 at 12:29 am
I recently watched a documentary about the events of 9-11 which looked at a group of people you never hear talked about any more. I remember them because these people did get mentioned in some early live broadcasts as that terrible day’s events were begining to un-fold. However, in the hours and days that followed they were mentioned less and less. And now, over five years on, they are almost never mentioned at all. They seem to have been wiped from our collective memories of that day and to mention them has almost become a taboo, particularly within America. I am talking about ‘the jumpers’, those people who were trapped above the impact zone of both towers with no hope what-so-ever of escape who appear to have taken their destiny into their own hands, and jumped. The documentary was called “The Falling Man” or something like that, and it was all about a picture of one of these people snapped by a photographer which was given that caption. That one picture came to represent all those who appear to have jumped. The falling man became their icon.
I was going to post on this issue the day I watched the documentary because it affected me deeply, but I didn’t get a chance to collect my thoughts then. Ultimately, the biggest questions the documentary raised were why these people have been written out of 9-11 history, and what we would do if we found ourselves in their desperate situation. Some relatives of victims couldn’t face the thought that their relatives could have jumped. Others took great solace from it. There was one old man in particular who got me thinking. He described how his wife had called to say she loved him, said her good byes, and then most probably took the initiative and jumped. He thought how great it must have felt for her to be free of the hell that was the top of those towers and to get to die out in the fresh air. He thought it must have been such a relief and was happy that her suffering was shorter than it could have been. He preferred the though of a quick death outside to a long protracted death inside choking on the fumes and suffocating to death.
This got me thinking – what would I do? How would I feel if I were to be the one who had received that call? I’m still not completely sure, and I hope I never have to make that decision. But the thoughts of taking back even the tiniest bit of control over my destiny in a situation where I would be totally robbed of it sounds appealing. If you know you have to die, surely it’s OK to do it on your terms? I think it probably is. Does that make these people brave or cowards? Some clearly think they are the cowards of the day. That may be why they have been written out in favour of much more heroic images like the flag on the make-shift flag pole, and the valiant rescue workers. Yes, the firemen and the police men and all those who helped were real heroes. But in my view, they were not the only brave people on the day. I think the jumpers were too. And I respect them for having the guts to make the best of a horrendous situation and to end it on their terms, to take back that last bit of initiative. To put their affairs in order. Tell their loved ones what they desperately need to have confirmed to them, and then to just end the hell.
I know that many people will read this and totally disagree with me. That’s fine. This is a very divisive issue which is muddied a lot by religious views on suicide. If you’re wondering what sparked this post today, it was two things. A statement on the Mikado bulletin boards that suicide is always wrong, and stumbling across a recently released video from that fateful day that briefly and very distantly shows the jumpers. I would not dream of forcing anyone to watch something as unsettling as that so I have not embedded the video in this post. Should anyone want to watch it it can be found here.
“… why these people have been written out of 9-11 history …”
I haven’t seen this documentary, so I might be missing something, but I really don’t think these folks have been “written out of history” any more than anyone else. I mean, nearly 3,000 people died that day, I don’t think anyone has tried to somehow suppress the memory of any particular group of them.
Hi Dave,
The documentary makes a pretty good case that they have been at the very least forgotten. It doesn’t claim it was some mad conspiracy or anything, just that it was probably down to the disturbing nature of these people’s death. The paper that published the photo of the falling man was inundated with complaints. People didn’t want to think about those people it seems. I think it’s more a commentary on human psychology than anything else that we, as a society, have shied away from thinking too deeply about these people. It would seem we’d rather think about the simpler, more clear-cut heros of 9-11 than the challenging questions the jumpers pose. The documentary was very well done. Not sensationalistic, just trying to get at the deep questions these people’s choice pose. It was also done very respectfully in my view. You can find out a little more about the documentary and indeed the falling man pictures on Wiki pedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man#Documentary
I remember seeing that documentary a while back (maybe it was a different one though). I saw one where they tried to identify the ‘falling man’, but came up without a complete conclusion.
I could imagine it being unnerving to watch for some people, but I thought it was quite illuminating. You’re right in that the people who (supposedly) jumped were essentially forgotten whenever 9/11 is mentioned or thought about.
Many people have great difficulty with the notion that someone chose the manner of their death, I find, and seem more relaxed with the thought that a persons life was taken from them without their consent.
It would seem to be human nature not to mention the ‘worse’ parts of life and death, but that doesn’t stop making it exist.
Personally, given a choice between burning to death and jumping I would have opted for the latter.
Some families rejected the notion that the falling man was their family member simply because they did not want him to be disallowed from heaven as per their religion.
I don’t think religion should have come into it for the families.
The people did not choose to kill themselves – they knew they were already dead especially those that were up too high and watched the first tower collapse.
Rather, it could have been that they simply chose to meet whatever Maker they believed in sooner than they would had they simply sat back and waited. Incidentally this would have caused a lot less pain to them (or so I would assume) than burning or suffocating to death.
Same outcome, different route.
Hi Fran,
From the sounds of it you watched the same documentary. And yea, I think your summing up is bang on “Same outcome, different route” and like you I think I’d prefer to jump than to suffocate or burn to death.
Bart.
And I respect them for having the guts to make the best of a horrendous situation and to end it on their terms”
I had never considered that these people were “ending it on their own terms”. Obviously you never know until the situation occurs, but I think that if I was fifty floors up and surrounded by flames I would jump too. I wouldn’t be jumping as a form of suicide or as a statement of any kind. I’d be jumping because given the options of being burned alive – dying in unbearable agony, or going for a million-to-one shot to survive the fall (and at the very least dying very quickly), I know which way I’d prefer.