Taken by Richard Drew in the moments after the September 11, 2001, attacks, it documents one person’s individual escape from the collapsing towers. The image was published in the New York Times, and other newspapers around the U.S., but backlash from readers forced it into obscurity. I had almost forgotten about it until the Don DeLillo Novel, Falling Man was published in 2007.
Falling Man’s identity is still unknown, but he is believed to have been an employee at the Windows on the World restaurant, which sat atop the north tower. The true power of Falling Man, however, “is less about who its subject was and more about what he became: a makeshift Unknown Soldier in an often unknown and uncertain war, suspended forever in history, a symbol of individuality against the backdrop of faceless skyscrapers. On a day of mass tragedy, Falling Man is one of the only widely seen pictures that shows someone dying.” – Time Magazine.
Beautifully written, Wayne. The tragedy of September, 11 th – 2001 cannot be underestimated. It undoubtedly set in motion a series of further tragedies that still resound to this day. Like the raising of the flag of Iwo Jimi or the iconic photo of the young Vietnamese girl running from burn napalm, Falling Man is etched into our collective conscience. Sadly, the moment was badly handled and rhetoric ruled over reason. Truth became misplaced with rumor and. Proudly many young men (and women) signed on for the great revenge spectacle, only to be misused and spent on battlefields and countries that had little to nothing to do with this attack. We will never truly know who the true enemy is, as time continues to morph their names and their locations throughout the Middle East. To me, Falling Man represents the slow free fall of the beginning of the end. The end of freedom. The end of truth. The end of justice and equality in the world. The end of America as that shining beacon on the hill. As sad as it was to see (again), thank you for printing.