Posted on 09/10/2012 6:11:37 PM PDT by combat_boots
"A few days after the falling man picture was published, Peter Cheney a journalist from the Globe and Mail was asked to attempt to identify him. He had the image enhanced and immediately saw that the man was black or hispanic with a goatee and a waiter's jacket. Cheney thought that he might have jumped from Windows on the World restaurant which was crowded with over 150 guests and staff at the time of the attack.
He began to look for one man among the thousands who were missing that day. It seemed hopeless but late one night Cheney saw a photo near Times Square of a missing man in a white jacket; Norberto Hernandez, a pastry chef. His sister, Milangros had seen the photo and thought it might be of her brother.
Cheney went to the funeral but the family refused to speak to him or look at the picture. Deeply religious they could not face the thought that their husband and father had chosen to end his life on that day. "I know what he was thinking, he was thinking of me, of his daughters, his grandchildren and his mother. 'I'm not gonna jump, I'm going to try and escape any way possible ... but the last thing I would do is jump out of the window.'" his wife said later. Cheney went on to publish an article where he identified Hernandez as the falling man.
Tom Junod, a writer for Esquire magazine was haunted by the photo and convinced that America needed to confront the falling man and the others who jumped to their death that day. "I felt the falling man had been pushed to the side, there was an element of exclusion
(Excerpt) Read more at liveleak.com ...
Never forget. Never.
I just noticed the time this was posted. It was a propos but accidental.
“Forget about what?” said the Obama voter..
That is THE image that will ALWAYS stick in my mind. The thought of the shear terror this man experienced is mind numbing. (Of course my mind is pretty numb most of the time.) But, bless his sole and I pray he found peace.
Helping keep mankind warm for 65 years.
I saw this documentary last weekend on the Destination America TV channel. It was so interesting...and tragic. The horror those people went through. Right after that they had a documentary called The Woman Who Wasn’t There, about Tania Head, the woman who faked surviving 9/11 and insinuated herself into the lives of WTC survivors. She kept this pretense up for years. I did not know of this person and was revolted. So sick of crazy people.
It was there that night, the next day and the next day and pretty much still there to some degree a week later ~ I had some neighbors cooked in that fire ~ I know what a burned neighbor smells like.
You never forget.
I spent 25 years fighting fire, and I can tell you this was no suicide.
When that heat gets behind you, you go. You do not make that decision it is made for you.
I don’t know if I’m projecting, but the “falling man” picture always seemed to be a picture of a man at peace. Something about the body angle. Peace with the outcome. Peace with his decision. Peace with his God.
I’ll never know.
If people need to feel better about it, let’s say he was climbing to the floor below and his hands slipped.
I watched this several days ago on Fox. Extremely moving.
I agree. It does seem to be a man at peace with God and himself.
Thank you. I was going to say the same. With unbearable heat at your back, it ceases to be voluntary, and therefore should not be considered suicide.
Suicide is a deliberate act. It’s very, very doubtful that he deliberately CHOSE to jump. He was driven out of the building by the flames behind him.
Thats what was so odd. its as if the picture was inverted of a man leaning against a wall. i tried to watch the documentary again but i still get ill. had to turn the channel.
i for one will NEVER forget. seared into my mind forever.
Certainly not suicide... the poor man had no choice.
As for “Never forget “, I never will, but a good many of our poor excuses for citizens forgot...... within about 3 months after the attack.
There were so many that tried to escape by any means necessary, trying to climb down the sides of the buildings. I prefer to accept that they died in their attempts to live or like other posters have said, we’re pushed out by the heat and flames. Bless their souls..and those of their families..and to all the responders that offered help and to the brave should of Flight 93.
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I hate suicide so much. But I’ve never thought of those leaping from the burning Towers as committing suicide. I have never been at all concerned that someone decided to end it right there rather than burn to death. I still get tears in my eyes when I think of them. God bless them.
I will never forget.
I remember that day very well. I was asleep when my grandmother called me and told me what had happened. I said “what?” and turned on the TV.
I will NEVER,EVER forget that day.
And never forgive.
Yep. In fact at the point that the heat becomes lethal jumping extends life. Jumping is also potentially less deadly than the flames since men have fallen literally miles and lived to tell about it.
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