Originally Posted by
Lookleft
I was working for Ansett at the time so the shock of losing my job and career compounded the shock of the attack. Months later when I finally had to hand in my ASIC at the airport I was able to go onto a 737 that was parked at the airbridge and had been "wrapped up" since Ansett had stopped flying. Still on the aircraft was a newspaper from the day after the attack and the picture on the front page was of a man who had jumped from one of the towers. He was still alive as the picture was of him before he hit the ground. My lasting image of that photo was that he had his hands behind his back and he was head first. He was clearly resigned to his fate and was going to take the final step while he was still in control. I think that man sums up why the terrorists haven't won anything. Despite being put in a situation not of his choosing, he was still going to fight back in the only way he could and that was to end his life on his terms and not submissive and frightened by a bunch of cowards. The aim of Bin Laden was to precipitate the collapse of Western economies by bringing down what he thought was the ultimate symbol of capitalism. How wrong and deluded he was.
That photo was what became (in)famously known as “The Falling Man”. I remember looking at that image the following day as well, and trying to imagine the hell of that poor man’s last hour on Earth. Just go to work as normal on a beautiful September morning and, an hour later, your choice is to either stay in the Tower and burn to death, or jump out of a 100+ story window. Just horrific.